Searching
by MiyuTanemura
Summary: After being raised by Igneel since he was a baby, at one point Natsu starts wondering about his real parents. At one point his path at the guild starts giving him the answers to his questions. How will he react to those answers? And to the unexpected questions that arise later? Natsu/Gray. AU. Dedicated to Citrus Sunscreen.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well, except the plot and the original characters but the rest, rien!

 **A/N:** So, here's November and here I am, dedicating this story to my dear Citrus Sunscreen. Hope you like it, my dear! Happy birthday, too...

To whoever comes on this ride with me, I'm writing this story for NaNoWriMo and posting it here daily so as to keep me motivated. I have things planned and I think that this is going to be a fun story. Hope you find it enjoyable too.

The story's unbetaed and it's posted kind of as soon as I finish the chapter. So, all the off things are, of course, my fault. Many apologies for that. *bows*

Feedback would be awesome. ^^

* * *

 **Searching**

Prologue

Night had fallen like a heavy blanket over the forest.

The usual noises seemed to have also been muffled by the darkness, whose long fingers had stretched long and deep into the core. Even the wind didn't seem to be able to bring forth loud noises from the vegetation, such was the hush.

There were a few mists that were starting to raise, their translucent whiteness coming upwards, towards the waning moon.

Silence was encompassing everything, until the moment when noise started. It was like a cacophony that tore at the hush like a knife going through fabric.

Three figures emerged from the bushes, the spidery fingers of the vegetation ripped at clothes and skin. But they didn't care about now for they were running. Running away from the terrible events that had torn the right way of the world apart.

So the figures ran, ran, ran, towards the deeper part of the forest, long past treks made by men and where the odd path had been made by whichever animal roamed it. For this part of the forest was mostly wild, commonly addressed as forbidden.

But the few people that cut through the silence were only the beginning. They were like the tip of the spear, a much deeper noise, both from metal and men, followed after them. The natural forest noises didn't stand a chance.

Then, it seemed like the wind had started picking up, blowing in odd directions, scattering the sound even further.

After a while, the trio slowed. The boundary of the forbidden part of the forest had been crossed a while ago and, despite their desperate run, the vegetation had been quick to cover up their tracks, almost as if it didn't want to have any trace or mark of the human species.

From the brief, whispered words uttered, the trio thought to be in relative safety. For the time being, at least.

"We must stop now." Said a female voice, the only one from the trio. "This might be our only chance. _Samarium_!" The last word was said in a commanding tone, which made the two men stand to attention.

After one brief moment of hesitation, the taller of the two men pushed back the hood and looked at the woman seriously.

"You're right, Cerian. But we must hurry." He glanced at the other man, who was shorter and of a stouter constitution, who had also uncovered his face and was looking at them grimly, blood slowly oozing from gashes on his temple and cheek. He had one hand poised on the hilt of his long sword and gave a quick nod before turning around and scanning the area.

"For the moment I think that we're safe," he said in a gruff voice before heading towards some trees and left the couple in apparent privacy.

"Can we really do it, Samarium?" The woman said in a sad, defeated voice. The man approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We don't have a choice now. It's for the best, for his best chance to survive." He said in an equally sad voice.

"I don't want to…" Cerian said as she hugged the bundle she had in her arms tighter. "This shouldn't have gone like this." She looked around the small clearing, noticing a tree that would be fit for her intended purpose. She walked on the wet ground, feeling the grass and the mud give slightly underfoot, a squelching noise emerging with every footstep. She approached the tree, knelt down and inspected the tree root, hand running lightly over the rough bark. And then she felt a jagged edge, the wood gave way to a hole. In the weak light – though it was more like complete darkness – she plunged her hand inside. Behind her she could hear the sudden interjection given by her husband and soon enough a weak orange light cut through the darkness. In the flickering light she could take a good look at what was within the bundle. First she could see the fluffy hair that in the current light seemed orange but that was actually pink, followed by the chubby face of her dearest son. He was sleeping soundly, she smiled as she saw that. With a slightly trembling finger she poked at the chubby cheek before she sighed and looked back, towards her husband. The tiny flame in his hand trembled, dimming and plunging his features into darkness, sharpening his expression, deepening the sadness.

He seemed as defeated as she felt, and undoubtedly also showed.

"Come on, we should hurry now. He'll be back in no time." Samarium got closer to her.

"Yes, yes. I know. But, can we really do it?" she asked, at the same time that she placed the bundle inside the niche in the tree root.

"We don't have another choice…" was the unhappy answer.

Then, suddenly, there was a rustle in the vegetation, one that wasn't brought by the wind – as the unnatural wind had seemingly died down while the pained conversation was going on – that startled the pair. The man instantly extinguished the plume of fire that had been sitting in his palm while the woman covered the niche with her body.

"I think that our time's up." The gruff voice of the other man appeared, disembodied, before the stout man appeared. "We should be going."

"Come, Cerian." Samarium said.

"Yes…" She said as she quickly slipped a metallic disc and a bracelet inside the cloth, managing to put it under the outer protection.

She stood up and turned to hug her husband, sorrow cursing through her at the same time that her heart broke – the same undoubtedly happening to him. Neither had hopes of seeing their child again.

"We don't have _time_." The burly man stressed as he approached the couple and started shooing them in the opposite direction.

The rustle of the vegetation was growing in intensity.

Soon enough the tiny clearing got void of people.

Suddenly, the baby inside the bundle started to make noises, as if feeling that something wasn't right. The noises soon enough became outright crying that echoed through the forest, clashing horribly with the silence that, in the meanwhile, had settled.

As if brought by that crying, the rustle of the vegetation grew even further. A rumble resonated in the night, overlapping over the crying and in the weak light of the moon, the head of a dragon rose above the treetops, curious. The dragon looked around before noticing the tiny clearing and the broken tree root and, inside, the baby.

The dragon stood like that, looking at the baby for long moments before lowering its head.


	2. Chapter One

A/N: And here's the next chapter! Hope it's enjoyable.

It has only been read by me so, the unbetaed warning applies.

Feedback would be awesome.

* * *

 _Ten years later..._

Morning had come, with the sun starting to shine brightly on the sky.

Both Natsu and Igneel had gotten up right as the first rays started peeking on the horizon. The boy had started the day in high spirits, as usual, and starting to pester his father about what was the plan for the day.

They lived in a cavern situated on the side of a hill deep in the forest. The cavern was deep and it easily accommodated the large stature of the dragon but on the inner side of the cavern, connected to said wall, was a small dwelling. Inside there were only four divisions, two bedrooms, a small bureau and a kitchen. Inside the cavern a true maze existed, for the several things that the dragon had hoarded and for safekeeping. But, all in all, the most basic needs were taken care of. The dwelling was simple but easily kept clean by Igneel's strict teachings in regards to some rules. Natsu grumbled and obeyed but he wouldn't have things in any other way.

Natsu knew that Igneel wasn't his real father, it might be a bit difficult for that to happen as the dragon didn't overly enjoy to be in the human form. But the dragon had raised him, taught him and transmitted some of his dragon knowledge and, well, he was Natsu's father, for all intents and purposes.

He was grateful to him. Not only for all those other things but also for having shared his knowledge in magic. Dragon magic was quite powerful and not easily mastered but, strangely, Natsu had caught it quite easily. Despite being a bit too overbearing at some of the time…

Igneel was surprised by him, and when Natsu had asked for the reason he'd been mysterious and elusive, easily brushing off his questions.

"So, what's the plan for today, Igneel? Continue with yesterday's lesson? I think that I could get that move if I practiced a little more…" Natsu put down the spoon with which he'd been shovelling the porridge down his throat with just instants prior. He stood up and in an overly slow movement gave a high kick. He heard the rumble of the dragon and heard the familiar noise of the shrinking magic. Soon enough the door was opening and his father entered, shaking his head and giving a deep sigh. "No?" Natsu straightened and asked.

"No, Natsu. Today we need to go get some supplies." The dragon, now in human form, said.

Igneel was tall and slim, longish dark-red hair and sharp facial features. His eyes were quite unusual as they were golden and too wise-looking. Today he was wearing a simple brown shirt, a black vest and trousers, his boots were study-looking and if one caught the light in them would see that they were made in a scaly material.

"Supplies? Today? Awww…" Natsu pouted and threw himself to the chair, slouching into his seat.

"Why are you so surprised, pray tell? With the amount of food you eat it's a wonder we only need to go to the town weekly." The dragon crossed his arms and looked at Natsu amusedly.

"I don't eat _much_!" Natsu said in mock outrage. Then he looked at Igneel with a huge grin and they started laughing.

"Come on. The village is still far." Igneel caught Natsu's dishes, turned towards the sink and placed the dirty dishes inside.

"Oh, but aren't we flying? That way it would be easier." Natsu stood and for a few moments looked indecisive.

"Maybe… I think that you still deserve a little punishment because you goofed off when I was telling you about the roots of the…" Igneel paused and arched an eyebrow as he noticed Natsu's expression.

"That was booooring." Natsu said sullenly and pouting. "You know that I don't like the theory all that much. It makes want to sleeeeeep." He ended his sentence with a smile, as if he was very innocent.

"The theory is important." Igneel said with a sigh. "I've told you countless times, you also need the basics. It's not just a question of knowing _how_ to do something, you should also know the _why_."

"But I can't help it if it's boring. It needed more movement." Natsu flailed his arms in an exaggerated movement.

"For that, you're going to have the theory classes increased – and with the added bonus of meditation." The dragon smiled at the groan of despair that came from his son. "You never know, Natsu." He walked to the boy and placed his hand on the pink mop of hair. "Those things will allow you to balance the physical. I'm sure that you'll be able to grow splendidly but you can't be so impulsive." He distractedly patted the head. "But, for today, going to the town by foot will help you improve your stamina. I can assure you that you're not going to get bored."

"Yaay!" Natsu jumped and curled himself around Igneel's front. "So, what are we waiting for?" he let go, jumped to the ground and rushed to the mouth of the cavern.

"Oh Natsu…" Igneel said fondly as he grabbed his money pouch.

* * *

They went to the town that Igneel preferred and was one of the closest ones, Magnolia.

It was a large and different place, filled with people and movement and sounds and smells. And the smell of the food always made Natsu lick his lips and will his stomach not to rumble.

There were a few merchants that knew Igneel and the pair headed towards them as soon as they reached the market.

The streets were their usual bustle, even more so since there seemed to be more people about, despite it being mid-morning when the pair got to Magnolia.

"What's happening?" Natsu asked, getting slightly closer to Igneel's leg.

"Hm, maybe it's a festivity?" Igneel ventured as he took them towards their usual stands. "Let's just buy our things and head back home."

They learned, while buying the groceries, that the reason to celebrate was because the guild had come out victorious in an important mission that they'd gone to. Some things had been quite hectic and the guild had provided the manpower to settle things down.

At learning that, Natsu was a bit amazed. He hadn't heard of a guild before and it sounded outlandish and exciting. The fact that the merchant they were talking to was also beaming and proud also made Natsu be slightly curious. He held Igneel's hand, silently transmitting those thoughts and was reassured by his father's smile.

Igneel would explain everything when they reached home.

The pair did the shopping they'd meant to, and also had lunch in the town, standing on the street and seeing the various members of the guild walk victorious down the street, the crowd having parted ways and being now cheering loudly. Natsu finished his food in the blink of an eye and then Igneel put him on his shoulders, where he could take a good look at things. And Natsu did, his eyes open wide in wonder and amazement.

When things died down a bit, Igneel placed Natsu back on the ground and held out his hand. Natsu took it. With the other, the dragon hefted the bag and threw it over his shoulder and started walking down the by then familiar trek home.

They were already under the protection of the forest when Natsu finally asked the question he'd been itching to ask.

"Igneel… what are the guilds?" he had let go of the dragon's hand a good while ago and was walking a few steps ahead, turned to Igneel.

"I'd been expecting that question since we left the town." Igneel said, and his countenance seemed to shift slightly when he took a posture that Natsu was quite familiar with. "As you know, in our world there are some people who have the ability to use magic. As you _know_ ," Igneel stressed the last word, "there are several types of magic. We've been studying one very specific kind of elemental magic that is mostly used by certain creatures, like dragons and the few lineages that have the affinity that was brought by…?"

"Oi! Did this become a test or something? I wasn't expecting that!" Natsu whined, deflating a little bit.

"It's as good a moment to show that you've consolidated your knowledge as any other." Igneel said with a small chuckle. "Anyway…" he threw a meaningful look at Natsu before continuing, "The society needed some way to be able to use these magic users. So the first guilds were created, to work for the people. There are many kinds of mages and so they're able to be assigned to the most various kinds of missions. One of the aspects where the mages from the guilds are very useful is that they can help explore certain areas, they will be there to protect the people and many other things. There's the whole retribution system that allows for the guilds to subsist and then it's a cycle. Now, I want you to tell me about the basic rules from elemental magic…"

Natsu groaned but complied and started prattling on, trying to remember all the things that Igneel had taught him but not having much success. Behind him, Igneel was smiling benevolently.

* * *

But not every day would be filled with lessons, for Natsu. He also had the opportunity to play, and one of the things that he loved to do was to try to copy some of Igneel's moves when he was in dragon form.

Today he was near the waterfall and the river that flowed, close to their home. Natsu was hiding in the bushes, attempting to hunt down one small tournilop but, it was a difficult task. The long ears and twitchy movements showed that it was alert, the soft brown fur was bristling up and the head was turning to and fro. Natsu was sure that he'd been caught already. But he waited, let the rustling of the leaves cover up his movements, the green scent of the grass to cover up his own scent – though that was a tough one because, one, he was human, two, he lived with a dragon. That kind of scent was quite discernible – and the wind to work in his favour. After an unbearable amount of time, the tournilop calmed slightly and hopped to the small shrub that was colourful due to the pink and purple flowers that were sprouting from it. It started to munch on the petals, one ear still pointing up. That was when Natsu decided to strike. He jumped as close to it as possible and went down in pursuit, only that his foot slipped on the wet grass and Natsu ended up in the water mirror with a powerful splash. He splashed on the water until he got to the surface and was met with Igneel's snout, and he tapped on it with a pouty expression.

He felt the rumble of laughter and the puff of breath that Igneel exhaled.

"Your tactic needs some improvement." He said and Natsu saw how he was laying on the large rock where the sun would reach him in a good way. "You shouldn't be so impatient."

"Impatient! Me? Didn't you see how I waited there for so long?" Natsu swam towards the dragon, coming to the middle of the water mirror. "How can that be impatient?"

"You'll see…" Igneel said happily. He saw Natsu head to the rock that was right under the waterfall, having been flattened and smoothed out by the countless litres of water pouring in. "Hey, take off those clothes. They're sodden as they are."

Natsu swam to the shore and with quick movements took out his clothes, before jumping back to the water. He swam back to the waterfall and stood under it, feeling the water falling down on him and laughing.

* * *

Natsu loved the lessons he had outside of the cave, it was when they went to the bureau and, so to speak, hit the books that things got a little more difficult. He just thought that the books were so boring. He didn't fully understand Igneel's love for the things. Or why he wouldn't mind that there were things scattered about, if they were books.

So, every now and then, after his boring lessons, Natsu would be cleaning the house of the misplaced books.

It was a sight to be seen, though. The dragon had to transform back to his human form to hold the books properly and to comfortably sit and read them and then, such was his immersion on the books, he would place them in nearly any available surface. So there were piles of books just about everywhere in their little dwelling.

Well, not near the stove or the sink area. Or the small fireplace, carved on the wall of the cavern. But that was for obvious reasons, of course.

The young fire mage was putting some books on the bookshelf when suddenly a strange metallic disc fell from within the pages of one of the books. Natsu looked at the book and then at the disc and then at the book again. On the cover it said "Les Lignées Royales" in golden filigree against a dark blue velour.

Natsu placed the book back on the desk and crouched to be able to pick up the disc. It was seemingly ordinary, of a silvery colour, shiny and it almost fit in his palm – but since his hands were still smallish, it was too big. Natsu picked up the disc and stood, only to be hit by a sudden wave of vertigo.

For a few moments he could swear that he had felt a finger brushing against his cheek, followed by a phantom caress that seemed to resound deeply within him. Natsu closed his eyes in reaction and was assaulted by a number of sensations, the wetness of vegetation, smoke and blood, the pungent scent of tree bark, a hard surface against his back and a hand, caressing him gently. Words were being said, unintelligible to him, but uttered in a woman's voice that couldn't hide the grief she felt. A male voice followed and Natsu felt a steady presence before everything snapped and Natsu's legs stopped supporting his weight. The pink haired boy fell to the floor, knees impacting painfully on the wooden boards that Igneel had used for the floor.

'What the… what was just that?' he thought, his eyes wide open and gazing unseeing at the disc that had rolled from his hand and was now near the open door.

Finally, Natsu composed himself, picked both himself and the disc from the floor and ran out the house in search for his father.

"Igneel! Igneel!" he yelled to the wind, as the dragon had gone in one of his flights, to stretch the wings – as he liked to say.

Soon enough a shadow appeared above the cavern and soon enough the large dragon had landed and was looking concernedly at Natsu.

"What's the matter?" he asked, head hovering over Natsu's small form. "What happened for you to be… like that?"

"Igneel. I… I found a disc in the middle of some books, while I was cleaning and…" Natsu noticed how the dragon recognized instantly of what he was talking about. "A disc. It fell and then I touched it and, I don't know, felt someone caressing my head and people talking… what does this mean?" he finally asked in a small voice, feeling lost.

"Ahh, so it seems like the time has come." Igneel said with an exhale and saw Natsu's small nod. "So, I'm going to tell you everything. Is that okay? Sit, get comfortable. It isn't overly long but it's better to play safe." He winked at Natsu who chuckled before sitting down and leaning forward in expectation. "Well, it happened one night when I was in what we call the Drosera side of the forest. I was minding my own business when the forest fell into a strange silence. It was like the whole forest held the breath and then the silence was shattered by the noises of a few humans. They were running and carried with them the scent of smoke, acrid magic and blood. I don't think that whatever they were running away from was good. And I got my suspicions confirmed when they stopped on a clearing and left a small bundle in there, tucked inside a broken tree root. They were filled with sadness and grief and those feelings filled the air in the clearing. Next thing I know, you were crying and I got curious as to what they had left in there. I looked and found you, you were all chubby and cute." At that Natsu made an embarrassed noise and hid his face in his hands. "Hey, don't do that, it's true. When I went to pick you up I noticed that they had left two things with you, maybe as a charm or something?" The dragon mused. "Well, I don't know. But I do wonder as to why they left you there, that part of the forest is pretty wild, no humans go there unless they're desperate so it was probably a desperate bid to leave you there."

"What do you mean?" Natsu suddenly asked in a small voice. "They didn't want me so it was better to leave me there?"

"You're not seeing things as they were. I think that your parents left you there because you might have a better chance if you… I think that maybe they thought that it was better if you died there instead of staying at the place you'd come from. Or the place they were going to."

"That doesn't make sense!" Natsu tilted his head forward, his unruly hair obscuring his face.

"Maybe it does. The wind was too sharp in that night. Told of troubled events. But, you're now acting in a way that I don't understand." He said with a mild snap to his words. Natsu looked up, eyes shiny and nose slightly pink. "You survived. I raised you and you now may have all the chances to go and look for them."

"What?" Natsu jumped up and looked at the dragon, his mouth open wide in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, my son, sometimes I do wonder if you've learned anything with what I tried to teach you." At Natsu's whine, he continued. "What I meant was that you could try and enter a guild and that way you might be able to look for them, you might even have more resources."

"Ah, nothing tells me that they're still alive." Natsu commented, scratching his chin but looking interested in the idea.

"Oh, I think that there are good chances that they are. They were tough people. Dragon blood does that to people."

"Wait, dragon blood as in from those lessons, the lineages?" Natsu asked, starting to connect the dots.

"Of course. How do you think you had such tendency to dragon magic? You were a genius?" Igneel teased, his sharp teeth lining up in a menacingly smile.

"Well, my father always told me that I was very good…" Natsu shot back, grinning too. Then he started. "Ah, but… Igneel… I think I should look for my parents but… that doesn't mean that you're no longer my father. You _are_ my father and will always be." And with that Natsu went to hug the dragon's forepaw. Igneel looked down at the human – his son – and patted him lightly on the back.

"And you will always be my son." He replied softly. "Alright, now, we must choose. You should go to a guild and I've heard good things from the guild we saw that other day, remember? When we went to Magnolia?"

"Oh, those from that time? They did look kind of cool."

"Only kind of? You were awestruck, you brat." Igneel poked at Natsu's side with a sharp claw. The small mage laughed and danced away from the claw.

"It was the first time I saw anything like that. It was pretty cool." Natsu grinned widely. "But, if you think it's for the best, I'm in. What's the name of that guild?"

"Fairy Tail."

"Hmm, I think I like that. It sounds kind of weird but, cool weird."

"I'm glad you think so. But there's something I nearly forgot." Igneel turned and went to the back of the cave, returning with a small jewel-box. "The other thing your parents left you is inside."

Natsu nodded and after letting out his breath, braced himself and opened the small box. He picked up a bracelet. But, it was strange… not that Natsu was very knowledgeable in such things but the bracelet he was holding did give out a strange vibe. Natsu held the thing before him, trying to discern it, the silvery metal was woven in an intricate mesh that was separated by five small cylinders. Grabbing one of the cylinders, Natsu manoeuvred it so that he could first, feel, then read the small mark embedded in each one. The five marks were quite faded and were hard to discern.

"This is it?" Natsu asked, curling his hand over the bracelet. "And what now?"

"Now, you go after your future, son."


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N:** So... this chapter was planned and was going slowly and then things kind of got out of hand? I don't have a clue. And do pardon me over this chapter but, what can I say? I have a lot of dumb feels.

Beware the unbetaed chapter.

Feedback makes the Muse stick around...

* * *

 _Seven years later…_

Life at the guild was fun.

Natsu had gone to Fairy Tail, as Igneel had advised him to. In there he had found a different reality than the one he'd lived so far.

There was a lot more movement and people and _food_. Not that he had ever starved when he was with Igneel – and he still thought that his father's food was the best he would ever taste – but they used to have slightly stricter rules in regards to food and being at the guild by himself, with plenty of food nearby just had him snacking a bit more than usual. Well, a lot more. Natsu sometimes paused to think that maybe Igneel would give him the _stare_ but he would shrug and go for another helping. He was a growing boy, after all.

And it wasn't like he had cut off ties with his father, no. every now and then he would say goodbye to his friends and go spend a couple of days with him.

Oh, but, friends!

They were an extremely welcome addition. Natsu hadn't felt the need before, while it was just him and his father, but having met a whole lot of different people, with whole different experiences and personalities had been something he hadn't expected.

But then, the people from the guild welcomed him seamlessly, and he was also lucky because there were a lot of younger kids arriving. Before long Natsu had a tight group of friends and was starting to go on missions – though, the easy ones, close to the town – and being a brat. Not that he thought of himself as that, no, that was one of the nicknames the older guild members had given him.

Natsu didn't mind. It was said in an affectionate way and often being followed by a playful rub of his hair. Given that most of the older mages were quite a bit taller – Natsu had grown quite a bit since he entered the guild – it was easy of them to do. And being followed by a grumble coming from Natsu and a pout. That would always earn him a few laughs.

But Natsu really wouldn't change one thing. And the closer friends he had made were also pretty special. There was Erza, who was a red head and, basically, their big sister, and she was also the older of the group. Always looking out for them and sometimes being the one to punish them when they stepped too out of line. There was Lisanna, with whom Natsu had caught like a house on fire and together they had found Happy, a blue cat that was beyond adorable and could fly. For now he could only hover slightly above the floor for a few moments but, he was trying and soon would get stronger. There was Lucy, who was really fun to be around with but she sometimes found herself in long talks with Levi and Erza. Those three could have really strange vibes coming from them at times… Natsu had learned to stay away. There were a few others who were close to them but they tended to get together with other groups. It was an interesting bunch…

And, finally, there was also Gray. A pesky ice mage with whom Natsu often found himself in fights or, at least, challenges to see who was the best.

By general consensus, they were even.

Not that either accepted that verdict, they were rivals and happy with that rivalry; always doing all they could to outsmart the other, to look better or stronger.

Of course that the rivalry was a façade for they were big friends and the way they found to express said friendship. And if they were a little too competitive it was probably due to their opposite magic natures.

* * *

It was a day like any other at the guild. Natsu had arrived early in the morning with Happy lying on top of his head. The cat was telling him something about fish, in an overly excited voice, despite the early hour.

When they entered the guild, they noticed that the large hall was mostly empty, only three or four members – who were looking mostly asleep, sometimes right into their dishes – sitting scattered over some tables. He headed straight to grab some food. Breakfast was always a wonderful time for him, all that food and, well, all that food…

Natsu placed his overflowing tray on the team's usual table, they had agreed to meet at the guild early – though there were large differences as to the others found as early and to what he found early. There was plenty of time before the girls arrived and Gray would, of course, be the last one to arrive.

The slightly sleepy atmosphere didn't take long to be broken as Natsu and Happy ate. Time passed without their notice and before long the girls were placing their own trays on the table and greeting Natsu.

"Good morning, Natsu." Lucy said cheerfully.

"Ah, gu mo'in'," Natsu said with his mouth full. Lucy made a disgusted expression before patting him on the shoulder.

"No speaking with your mouth full." She cautioned before sitting and drinking her tea.

"I was not." Natsu objected after he gulped down his mouthful and washed it with some juice. "Hey Erza."

"Good morning, Natsu." Erza said as she bit back a yawn. "Did you guys have a good night?"

"I would guess that we did but you didn't." Lucy said between bites of her sandwich.

"Ahhh, it's been dealt with." Erza dismissed the question with a wave of her hand and started tearing the bread in front of her into little pieces.

"Don't tell me that you were worrying over the thing from that other day?" Natsu finally asked, giving Happy a pat on the head.

"No. I wasn't. And, do any of you has any plan for the day?" Erza said in a slightly snappish tone.

"Dunno. Maybe we should wait for the slowpoke to get here." Natsu said as he stretched himself back in his chair and extended his arms back, in the meanwhile tilting his chair back too. That was when a hand knocked on his forehead, nearly disrupting the balance.

"Who are you calling slowpoke?" Gray asked in a gruff voice, hand still poised over the fire mage's forehead.

"To the last person to arrive, of course." Natsu grinned sharply, in defiance at the same time that he righted his chair.

"I don't know how you manage to wake up at these ungodly hours. It's so weird of you." Gray said as he sat on one chair and pillowed his head in his crossed arms. "I just feel like sleeping." He added, voice muffled by his arms.

"If you went to bed earlier that would probably not happen…" Natsu taunted.

"It's not my fault, you dumbass." Came the muffled grumble from Gray, who didn't so much as move his head to be better understood. Of course that Natsu heard him perfectly.

"Hey! Who are you calling a dumbass, ice brain?" Natsu quickly retorted.

"You, of course. Sheesh, did you eat all that? How can you want to eat at this forsaken hour?" Gray jumped, his body contradicting his previous tiredness as it was now tense in anticipation of a fight.

"Bring it on. I eat when I want, yeah?" Natsu also stood and prepared himself to react, were Gray to make the first move.

"Boys, you're not going to start fighting already, are you?" Erza said in a neutral voice, seeming to still be half-asleep as she was just stirring her empty teacup, half-lidded eyes looking at the teacup but she wasn't assimilating things. "The master was quite annoyed at the destruction you caused at the last… contest…" She paused the stirring, sighed and looked at them.

"Erza, your teacup is empty…" Lucy said, slightly embarrassed for her friend.

"Ha…" both youths said at the same time as they tensed for another reason. They quickly plastered a smile on their faces and were quick to assure Erza.

"No, we weren't going to fight." Natsu gave an unconvincing chuckle at the same time that he scratched his cheek.

"Nope. We don't fight. You misunderstood because you haven't had your coffee yet." Gray added, starting to turn to go get some food for himself. "Don't worry, I'll go get my food and will grab some coffee for you." He said over his shoulder as he hurried away.

"You guys are cutting it too close…" Lucy said in an airy voice.

"No we're not." Was the fire mage's instant retort. "Oh, if Gray brings some cerintz I'm going to steal from him."

"You want to provoke him that much?" A surprised Lucy whispered, an accusing expression in her features.

"Provoke? No. I just like cerintz." Was the innocent reply followed by a wink.

"Yeah, like that's going to end well…" The blonde mage scoffed.

"Pfff." Natsu stuck out his tongue.

"Anyway, since Gray has joined us now, we could think about we're going to do for the day." Erza said suddenly, her bleary eyes looking at the others.

"Sure thing," Lucy agreed, "but let's just wait for Gray to return."

"But he just got here," Erza turned slowly to where Gray had been sitting, blinking owlishly as he wasn't there. "Oh."

"Erza, you look like you haven't slept a wink. Maybe you should go take a nap." Lucy said solicitously.

"I'm awake…" Erza replied, words being the complete opposite of her state, as she was nodding.

"I don't know who is worst, you two or Erza. The stubbornness is too much." Lucy said with a longsuffering sigh.

"Why are you bunching me with the ice mage?" Natsu asked, knowing that Gray was just behind him and would easily hear him.

"What are you talking about, fried brain?"

"Lucy said that we were both very stubborn. She's wrong. I'm less stubborn."

"You wish!" Gray placed his tray down with a slight clunk, the vessels that contained drink trembling dangerously for a few moments. The ice mage took the coffee cup and placed it in front of Erza, who had most likely nodded off, head firmly resting against her left hand. "Erza, here's your coffee. But maybe you should go get some sleep instead?"

"Mmm? No, no." Erza startled awake, looking blearily at her friends. "We should decide what we're going to do today. That was the plan. So, a mission or…?" Her question as interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Maybe we could take this day off? We finished that other mission and there aren't new ones on the mission board." Lucy ventured.

"Sounds good. Maybe I could go see my father…" Natsu said pensively.

"I would like to go buy some things, there was a new book…" Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Hey, where does your father live? It's not around here, is it?" Gray asked, in between bites.

"Ah, no. we live in the forest. I still go there but it's been a while…" the fire mage said in a distracted voice, starting to pile all the dishes from his meal into the tray.

"Well, it's been a while since we went to the forest without it being for missions. Why don't we go with you?" Gray suddenly said.

Natsu stilled, standing frozen as if Gray had made an ice statue of him.

"Wh-what? Go? With me?" He asked, expecting a clarification.

"I think so, silly. It would actually be nice. We haven't met your father yet." Lucy said. "But we could go after I buy those things, I never know when you free-loaders will go to my house and do as you please, including ravaging my pantry…"

"But… we, no wait, we did meet your father once. But why?" the fire mage was slightly stressed.

"We would like to know the person who survived seventeen years with you and wasn't driven insane. Yet." Gray said with a grin, in a nonchalant tone.

"That's not it." Lucy cut in. "But it would be nice to know that. And since you're from around the area, why not? It's not like we can go and see Gray's home, right?" she said with a tilt of her head, glancing at Gray.

"Nope. We're a bit far away from where I grew up…" Gray said with a slight ill-at-ease.

"See? I bet your father has a lot of embarrassing stories to tell us, don't you think?" Lucy let out a giggle.

"What! No! No stories. If you promise me that you won't ask for those stories I'll take you there." He pleaded.

"Aha! I knew I could make you take us there." Lucy said triumphantly. "So, I'll meet you here in two hours, okay?" She said as she stood and started heading out. "Oh, and take Erza to someplace more comfortable." She said over her shoulder.

"I can't believe her…" Natsu muttered, looking at Happy who had fallen asleep on the table as the conversation was going.

"You're too easy sometimes…" Gray said with a snort.

"Shut up. Like you're not all happy for meeting my father… but Igneel's awesome, you'll see." Natsu crossed his arms in front of himself and pouted.

"I can't deny that I'm curious. So, this whole thing is good." Gray shrugged. "Oh, but now we should take Erza to one of the bedrooms, don't you think?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go. I wonder if she'll want to go too." Natsu stood and grabbed Happy, placing him on the crook of his arm.

"I think that it might be better for her to sleep. She hasn't been resting for quite some time now."

"What do you mean?" These were news for the fire mage.

"I don't know. Something weird has been going on and… I really don't know." Gray sighed. "And now, how are we supposed to do this?"

"Heck if I know. Lucy really did us in, huh? And… she's thinking that my home is close… it'll take a while for us to get there, you know? There's a reason as to why I go there so rarely. And it's when I know that we have the time to spare."

"Well, what's done is done now. We're going and the time it might take doesn't matter. Hm, we should leave a note for the others." Gray scratched at his suddenly unclothed belly before looking down at himself and realizing that he was shirtless. "Shit!" he hissed, while starting to look for his shirt. Soon enough he found it, under the table.

"One point for the exhibitionist." Natsu snarked.

"Shut up!"

* * *

Natsu was in his bedroom, grabbing a few things that he wanted to take home when it hit him.

His friends were going to his home, see Igneel. Only Happy had ever seen him!

What was he going to do if they caught him in his dragon form?

It was known that dragons had disappeared centuries ago, also being one of the reasons of contention during the Purge.

There was a reason as to why Igneel – and him – lived so far from everything. Secrecy was important.

And, okay, it wasn't like he didn't trust his friends. That wasn't true. But this was a major secret. Related to things from the days of old.

What if things went badly? But no, it was impossible to meet Igneel and not like him.

And Igneel was smart and had his senses ultra-enhanced so if they made a bit of noise close to the house, he would change into his human form.

This thing was going to go well.

Natsu spent a moment thinking that and turned around to head out.

It would surely go well.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Lucy asked for the nth time.

Natsu just rolled his eyes and abstained from replying. They were, actually pretty close to the cave, the river was just about to become the familiar water mirror, the waterfall making the noise they'd been hearing from a distance. Natsu told Happy to go ahead and warn Igneel – for he had been taught that it was always polite to warn, even if the person they were visiting wasn't a dragon – of their incoming arrival. In the meanwhile he hoped that Igneel would be at the cave but, to be on the safe side, he would take the long way home.

"We're almost there. Want to stop here for a little bit?" Natsu said, sitting on a rock by the edge of the lake. He plunged his hand in the water and splashed a little.

"Sure, a break sounds good." Gray leaned against the bark of a tree and inspected the area while Lucy let out a happy noise and laid down on the grass.

"Finally, rest!" She said joyously. "You didn't tell us that you lived… ahh, I'm so tired that I don't even know what to say. You home better be close-by. I'm tired, damnit."

"It's just a little more. And I bet that Happy will be returning soon to tell us that Igneel's getting a feast ready." Natsu grinned at the prospect of said feast. It was, actually, time to eat.

"Food does sound good." Lucy hummed.

"It does." Gray agreed.

* * *

After the small break, the trio resumed their walk. As they were climbing the hill towards the cavern Happy appeared and said that everything was getting ready.

That made Natsu breathe a little easier.

It didn't take long for them to reach the mouth of the cavern, Natsu's home.

The tall, svelte figure that greeted them had Natsu sprinting to it, launching himself at it and making the duo fall to the ground.

Natsu and Igneel were laughing joyously.

"Natsu, it's good to see you, son." Igneel hugged the fire mage as he looked at the other two mages. "Welcome to our humble home, as you guessed, I'm this firecracker's father." He said with a smile as he finally let go of Natsu to stand and greet the newcomers.

"It's a pleasure. I'm Lucy," the blonde said as she gave a small bow.

"And I'm Gray." The ice mage was oddly serious as he bowed too. "We're with Natsu at the guild."

"You'll have to tell me stories, this one here never wants to speak of it when he comes. He's too busy shovelling food inside his mouth. Tell me, is the food bad there?"

"What?" Lucy exclaimed, staring at Natsu. "No, the food's good and Natsu does eat there."

"Quite a lot, if we might say…" Gray added solicitously.

"Shut it, Gray."

"Hey, are those the manners I taught you?" Igneel chastised the fire mage who pouted and turned around to head inside their dwelling. Delicious smells wafted from there. "Ahh, I'm sorry about this. But, please, do come in now. I have food and you must be tired…" he motioned for the two mages to get inside.

* * *

Dinner was fun.

The food was delicious and the conversation flowed easily – with only one embarrassing moment when Igneel decided to start telling the other two mages about cute things a young Natsu liked to do – and it didn't take long before everybody was full and content.

Gray and Lucy seemed to be quite tired so Igneel showed them to the bedrooms – Lucy would take his room while Gray would have to share with Natsu and Happy – and then finished cleaning the kitchen.

"Come," he told Natsu when the kitchen was spotless. They headed towards the bureau. Igneel sat behind his desk and Natsu sat on the other side. "What did you want to tell me? I know that you've been itching to say something…"

Natsu sighed. His father knew him too well.

"It's been too long and I haven't found anything about my parents." He said in an uncharacteristic tense voice.

"These things take time, and it's not like you could do things yet. It was too soon and the connections weren't totally formed yet, I imagine." Igneel mused, placing one hand over the other and leaning forward. "But there's something else there…" as he saw the furrowed brow and confusion on Natsu's face, the dragon relented. "… or maybe not. Look, Natsu. There's a time for everything. Maybe it hasn't been yet and it's just going to start soon." He extended a hand and instantly Natsu closed his hand around it. "I think that you're in the right way to finding them. Just, keep going, son."

"You're right, as always." Natsu smiled, although the smile was still quite subdued. "Well, maybe I should go to bed too. I will do all I can to find them." He tightened his hand around Igneel's before starting to stand. He was stopped when the hand didn't uncurl from around his, as he'd expected. "What is it?"

"I have something for you…" Igneel said as he opened a drawer and rummaged through it. He took out a package, brown paper wrapping something. "I'd been meaning to give this to you. Hope you like it." He smiled softly.

"What's this?" Natsu mused aloud as he opened it. The fabric fell on top of the table. "Fabric?" Natsu looked at Igneel before picking it up. "Hey, it's a scarf!" He said, confused.

"Yes, a scarf just like the one you have. But this one has a difference." Igneel pointed at the reverse side. Beside the familiar fabric there was a strange rectangle in another kind of fabric, being fluffy and tough with a small embroidery on one of the corners. "That was the outer fabric you were bundled in when I found you. I thought that you might like that other reminder, besides the ones you're already carrying."

Natsu threw himself at Igneel, over the desk and all, and was caught in a familiar, warm hug.

"Thank you."


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N:** I'd say that this is where things will start to go downhill? Hm, I kind of don't have a clue. Anyway, hope this chapter is somewhat enjoyable anyway. ^^

Betaed by a veeery sleepy me (it was very late) so, consider this unbetaed.

Feedback is always nice.

* * *

"Don't forget to take those objects with you. Maybe they will help you in your search…" Igneel said cryptically some time later, when they had already separated and were sitting on both sides of the desk once more.

"Do you think so?" Natsu said, startled and fished both from the small pouch he always carried with him. "They could?"

"You never know…" Igneel said but his smile showed that he probably knew more than what he was letting out.

"Well then, I'll take everything with me. Let's hope that I can find a clue soon." Natsu deflated a little as he put the disc and the bracelet back in the pouch. "It's been so long that this will probably be for nothing…"

"What do you mean?"

"What if they're dead already?" Natsu grabbed the scarf and held onto it until his knuckles were white.

"Hmm, do you think that they're dead?" Igneel asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Natsu's head snapped up. "There's no way I could know such a thing."

"There are some objects to which magic is associated and sometimes they're still linked to the person. Who knows if those objects of yours are like that…" Igneel wrinkled his nose and smiled. "And maybe you should wear that bracelet of yours. Put it under one of your arm guards, maybe?"

"If you say so… oh, but that's a good idea!" Natsu instantly fished for the bracelet. He pushed back the arm guard of his left wrist and then paused. "Huh, I can't put this on my own."

Igneel chuckled.

"C'mere. Let me see that." And Natsu handed him the bracelet. A strange shimmer seemed to surround it the moment Igneel touched the metal.

"Hey, what's that?" Natsu asked as he pointed at it with his free hand.

"Magic reacting to my magic, I would assume. Your wrist." Igneel said offhandedly, extending the bracelet and waiting for Natsu to put his wrist against it. "It's not surprising, if this is what I think it is."

"Oh, do you know something?" Natsu asked in a hopeful tone.

"I don't know anything for sure but my suppositions are just related to what we already know, this kind of magic has to do with dragon magic. And the rest… I can't say anything because it's not my place to do so." He answered apologetically.

"Bah, so, nothing new…" Natsu concluded with a pout.

"No. And at most you'll have to find those things by yourself. But I think that you'll be in good company. Your friends are quite nice. But I didn't expect you to be such good friends with that ice mage. Gray, was it?" The dragon asked teasingly.

"Oh, don't be mean. It's not his fault that he has that weak magic…" Natsu mock-scoffed. "Nah, he's okay and it's actually quite fun to fight with him." Natsu grinned broadly.

"That's very good. And we're done here." Igneel patted the fire mage's wrist, where the bracelet was already fastened. "And now, you should go get some sleep." The dragon stood and patted Natsu on the head.

"Yeah." Natsu said as he put the guard down. "But now this is going to bulge out."

But as Natsu was saying that the fabric of the arm guard went from having the bumps and wrinkles because of the metal underneath to completely smooth.

"Oi! What the hell was this?" The fire mage said, in surprise.

"At least now you don't have a reason to take the bracelet off." Igneel said with a chuckle as he saw Natsu looking up and under the fabric of the arm band. "And now, off to bed, young man. Tomorrow we get up at dawn."

"Tell that to Gray, he loves to sleep in." The fire mage laughed before hugging his father and opening the door, ready to leave. "See you tomorrow, dad."

"Sleep well, my son."

* * *

The next day started, as expected, quite early. To which Gray grumbled quite a bit but they had to return to Magnolia, new missions were bound to be waiting for them.

After a good breakfast the group of friends bid Igneel goodbye and went on their way.

They walked down paths that were very familiar to Natsu, the conversation flowing easily and Lucy and Gray were telling Natsu of their impressions of Igneel.

"It's quite hard to get here but your father's really nice. He seemed a bit scary at first but he's different from the expected." Lucy was saying, her arms stretched behind her, fingers intertwined. "And you were right to tell me not to ask about embarrassing stories… but the ones he told us were good enough."

That earned a good laugh from both Lucy and Gray, Happy joining in after a while.

Natsu only groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"Noooo… I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Was the muffled question.

"Nope." Gray said solicitously.

"Of course you will… in a few years, maybe. I can't wait to tell Erza about the stories. I did like the one where you ate something _very_ spicy and started spitting fire."

"What I would've paid to see that…" Gray mused.

"No. stoooop. That's enough!" Natsu said as he tried to smother himself with his new scarf.

"Come on, it's cute." Lucy said.

"I'm not cute. I'm cool, I'm badass." Natsu pretended to pose, his muscles on display. "I haven't done all that exercise and didn't have any reward."

"Sure…" Gray said mockingly. "But you don't have all that much of a fashion sense. That must have been forgotten somewhere, no?"

"Who are you to be telling me about fashion sense, mister 'I'm-always-going-naked', hm?"

"Oi. What do you mean?" Gray shot back, pausing to look down at himself and startling when he realized that he was topless. "Ah! This can't be! I need to find my shirt! What the hell happened to it?" The ice mage turned around and ran in the direction they'd just come from.

Lucy, Natsu and Happy stood on the same spot, waiting. After a while they heard a resonating "Aha! Found it!" – it was so loud that even startled some birds from nearby trees who flew up on the sky – before Gray ran back to them, pushing his shirt down.

"Now, it's going to stay." Gray said with a glare at the shirt.

"Gray… the clothes can't hear you…" Lucy said with a sigh as she touched her forehead. "What am I doing surrounded by all these insane people?" she mumbled before looking up at Natsu, who was frowning at her, and giving a small hand wave.

"I'm not insane." Natsu mumbled.

"No-one is insane." She was quick to reassure. "But now, let's go. I want to see if Erza's feeling better."

Natsu and Gray exchanged a look before shrugging and following her.

* * *

When they got to the guild things were much more cheerful than when they had left, not only because it was late at night but also because a good number of members had returned.

There was plenty of food and drink and music. Laughter abounded and so did the friendly challenges – Cana already had a few people knocked out as she continued drinking and laughing – and Erza was in much better condition than when they had left. She now looked well-rested and, most importantly, she was awake and talking to Mirajane. The air was starting to get odd between them so the group of friends had just gotten back at the right time.

"Hey! Erza! You're looking much better than last time." Natsu said as he slouched on his chair. "Hi, Mira."

"Welcome back, you guys. So, where did you wander off to? I heard you were here yesterday morning but then only Erza was here, sleeping in one of the bedrooms." The lilac-haired mage said with a smile.

"It's not my fault that I needed to sleep." Erza threw a meaningful look at Mirajane and then back at the newcomers.

"Oh, we went to meet Natsu's father." Gray said.

"Oh? His father?" Both Erza and Mira asked.

"Yes. He was super nice. And a very good cook, no wonder Natsu's always bragging about his food." Lucy said. "At first he looks a bit scary but, I liked him."

"I knew you would. My dad's the best." Natsu said proudly.

"Yeah, yeah, no more gloating." Gray rolled his eyes.

"And Igneel told us some awesome stories. I can't wait to share them with you and Levi…" Lucy said with a naughty smile.

The fire mage glared at Lucy but then flopped on the table top.

"Mira, is there any food already? All this talk about food has left me hungry." The fire mage mumbled.

"Right away, come with me, I'll give you a tray." The older mage started heading towards the food area and Natsu jumped from his chair and went after her with a cheerful woot. Happy flying after him.

The other three mages just shrugged at the antics of their friend.

"So, you're feeling better now?" Gray asked.

"Yes, I only needed to rest a little." The red head took a sip from her drink.

"You shouldn't push yourself so much, I mean, sometimes you should rest, you know?" Lucy said concernedly.

"Fine, fine. Now everything's good and I found us a mission." Erza said happily, placing the pamphlet on the table. "What do you think?"

The other two mages started reading the overall info for the mission.

"Huh, it doesn't seem too difficult?" Gray ventured.

"It's just finding that thing, right?" Lucy asked for confirmation, eyes going over the information once more.

"Yes, and I doubt that the things people worry about are real…" Erza said with a smile.

"And what would that be?" Natsu asked, placing his tray overflowing with food on the table.

"Ghosts." Said the other three at the same time.

"Eeehhh?" was the confused reply.

* * *

Turned out that the mission wasn't too difficult. They had to find a tapestry that had been lost when the inhabitants had rushed away from a certain mansion near Nekidoris. The village was quite close to Magnolia so the team decided to meet up early at the guild and then head there.

They didn't know why or how but there were rumours that the mansion was haunted, at least that was what said on the mission pamphlet.

So, in the next morning, after a quick breakfast (much to Natsu's pity), the team (minus Happy, who had chosen to remain at the guild) set out, headed to Nekidoris. It was quite close so they walked there.

Nekidoris was a small village that had once belonged to a rich family. That family, the Elaterium family, had administered the fields and created the village for the workers. One day, they'd ran away from the family estate in a hurry, leaving some things behind.

Strangely, nobody had returned there and the house hadn't been looted but certain weird mysterious events occurred there – sometimes to the point of reaching the village.

When the team arrived at the village they passed unnoticed, there was a lot of movement by the townspeople as the harvest was approaching and quite a lot had to be done.

The team was caught by an old lady who was happy to tell them the story of the village, starting from when she had been a little lass and then until more recent events. She remembered quite well the day when the Elateriums had fled, running away as if a dark curse was eating away at their heels.

"'Twas a strange day, that one. It had begun bright and warm but towards midday dark, the darkest clouds you'll ever see, started forming in the sky, rain began to fall and the temperatures got so cold all of a sudden. There was thunder ripping the skies apart and, due to the darkness, we could see the green light that came from the mansion. It was a sight that I shall never forget." She raised a wrinkled hand and pointed at the mansion. "It was all surrounded by this sickly-green mist. Some of it was blown towards our houses and later we found that the fields nearest from it, withered out when they were touched by the wind. The few people who didn't manage to go inside also fell sick. Our village apothecary was baffled for he had never seen such a thing. But then they came, running. Terrified. As if they'd seen ghosts and such awful things. And then they left our village, never to return. That was… more than twenty-five years ago… And we left the mansion be. But what are you darlings doing, wanting to know about the abandoned mansion?" she smiled a toothless smile.

"Ah, well, nothing, really."

"We have business to attend to there."

"It's good to know to what you're going."

"We have work to do."

The whole team talked at the same time and that was enough to distract the old lady. Or so it seemed.

"I see, I see. Well then, good luck with your things. And be careful, it wouldn't do to wake the asleep one." She waved at them before heading to the Inn.

They exchanged looks before Natsu started walking.

"Come on, we have work to do."

* * *

The mansion was very large and was mostly covered with vines and moss. The gateway was, for starters, also covered with greenery and rust, one of the sides was crooked, the metallic stricture coming off its hinges. The creak that met their soft push resonated through the empty yard, bouncing on the walls and stones. It was quite the desolate view.

Still on the outside of the estate, the team regrouped.

"So, the plan is to go inside, try not to disturb anything, find the tapestry and go back. Right?" Erza said, counting each action on a finger. "Everyone agrees?" She threw a pointed look at Natsu and Gray who were notorious for getting into trouble.

"Hey, don't look at me." Gray said.

"Or me! I didn't do anything." Natsu added, elbowing Gray.

Lucy slapped a hand over her forehead.

"Fine." Erza said with finality, stopping the elbowing war that was about to begin. "But let's go now."

"I don't like the vibes that this place is giving me…" Lucy said in a low voice.

"We don't have much choice now. It's not like ghosts exist, right?" Erza said before she stepped back and equipped a different armour. She pushed the gate a little bit more, widening the opening. "Let's go."

The group entered the estate and headed towards the doors of the mansion. When they reached it they found that the door was still ajar, a world of darkness on the other side of it.

"Let's go." Someone said in a low voice before they entered.

Inside the darkness was nearly absolute, because the windows were all completely shut – only outlines of luminosity coursed the walls – and it was… bare. It took the mages a while for their eyes to get used to the darkness but soon enough they started to discern things. And a certain sense of emptiness started to reach them.

"What's going on in this place?" Lucy asked, her head turning from one side to the other.

"I don't know but let's hurry." Erza said in a hushed voice.

"They said that the tapestry would be in one of the small drawing rooms on the ground floor, right?" Gray asked, already starting to walk to some doors on their left.

"Yes, let's check." The others agreed.

* * *

Natsu was feeling slightly odd.

It wasn't that he was scared of the house – although it was quite spooky – but Natsu had a strange feeling in his gut that made him feel slightly sick. Almost as if he'd drank bad milk and his stomach was now rebelling against him.

The group had split to cover up more ground as nobody wanted to be inside the mansion for longer than the strictly necessary. The girls were on the right side while the boys were on the left one.

Natsu could hear Gray rummage through whatever was in the room he'd entered. On his side, Natsu had just entered a large room, probably what used to be an office of some sort, with large bookcases, one desk sat on the side near the window – Natsu could see the bright outline – and on the other side there was a set of huge, plush seats. They were so big that Natsu imagined that he could easily lie down in them. He touched the soft fabric and coughed a little at the cloud of dust that rose.

Then he noticed the fireplace.

Natsu had to find something to light to be able to take a good look at it. And when he did take a better look, his eyes didn't trick him.

There were large, charred gashes running through the stone of the wall, and a painting was also pretty torn. Natsu made to take a step closer to the gashes but he started feeling a tingling, it came from his left hand and coursed inside his body, an unnatural warmth took over him. It was much hotter than what he was used to, unbearably so, spreading throughout him, getting too painful. Natsu knew that he had choked out a noise of some sort before his awareness went out. Distantly he knew that he'd just fallen to the floor but that seemed to be too far away and so, it didn't seem to matter.

Natsu found himself in a strange place where time seemed to be both still and moving really fast, his surroundings being in constant mutation, chaos tearing down any semblance of order.

Then, five oval mirrors appeared in front of him, each one reflecting Natsu with a different colour, each one having a different frame, different symbols coursing through them. Because these mirrors were also shifting before Natsu's eyes.

"What the-?" he said, but there was no noise and he had no voice so he only managed to see his expression reflected five times, staring back at him in astonishment.

The queasiness returned and Natsu saw himself tilt to the side and fall to the ground, where he seemed to be covered by a sticky and warm substance before it started sinking into his skin, like drops of acid corroding skin. Before he knew it, Natsu was yelling, his throat hurting even if he couldn't hear it, a strange disconnection between himself and his body.

Despite that, sharp and acrid scents started to assault him, burning him on the inside – and the worst part was that it was a whole different kind of burn to which he was used to.

Then, all of a sudden, the hotness was muted by a soft coldness that overpowered such scents, a balmy relief for him.

Natsu let out a breath and his weary lungs took in the coolness on the next gasp for air he took, the burning receding a little more with each breath he took.

The coolness allowed Natsu to struggle to stand once again, he saw his reflection and he did look pitiful, the strange gashes he'd seen on the wall all of a sudden were torn through his body but Natsu didn't fall this time, he had something that allowed him to withstand the burning atmosphere – it also helped with the pain. The mirror to his left side started shinning, a yellow halo surrounding it and the symbols that were coursing through the intricate – it was a familiar pattern, Natsu suddenly realized, it was just like the one from his bracelet – frame suddenly jumped into the air, like ropes and just as they were about to reach Natsu, the glass broke, lots of tiny shards flying around, the symbol-ropes coming together right before Natsu's feet and becoming a screen that protected the fire mage.

A strange word appeared in the vacuum that existed behind the mirror.

 _aluc_

It shone brightly before fading to a scintillating mix of colours that just hovered in that place.

'What the fuck is that?' Natsu wondered before starting to feel himself slipping away.

As he started to reacquire his senses, Natsu realized that he could smell grass and dirt as if he were outside, the scent of beer being poured caught him, a sweet scent of fruit and of metal and oil also reached him, followed by dust, rust, coal and fire. But, finally, there was one other scent that was there, stronger and cleaner, appealing. It was familiar yet foreign, but Natsu was certain that it was also the scent that had surrounded him when he was hurting because of the burning.

The fire mage opened his eyes and he only saw darkness for one moment, then shadows started to dance on his vision and he realized that he was laying on an extremely dusty, albeit plush, carpet. The scent of dust went to his nose and Natsu sneezed.

Hands were on his shoulders and helped him sit up.

And then Natsu saw Gray, who looked frantic. His hands had stopped being helpful and were now holding Natsu tightly, fingers digging nearly painfully on the fire mage's arms.

"What the fuck happened to you?" he asked in a tightly controlled voice, barely resisting the urge to shake Natsu, if the trembling in his hands was to be believed.

"Hey, leggo, I…" Natsu slapped ineffectually at Gray's hands, words slurred. "Heck if I know what happened." Natsu was starting to let himself slump back to the ground when he realized. "That was you!"

"Huh?" Gray was confused. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"It was _you_?" Natsu said once again in disbelief. "No. Not possible."

It wasn't possible that Gray had been the person with the coolness that had helped him, could he?

"You've probably hit your head, you're making less sense than usual." Gray retorted, finally letting go of Natsu. But he remained kneeling beside the fire mage.

"What happened?" Erza and Lucy happened to choose that moment to enter the room, alarm in their expressions.

"I don't have a clue." Natsu piped in.

"I was on the other room when I heard noise. I almost ignored it but then this moron here," he gestured to Natsu, throwing a glare for good measure, "started screaming and I came to see him twisting and turning on the ground."

"The fuck?" Natsu said. "That happened?"

"No, I'm lying." Gray said in a toneless voice.

"We did hear some screams." Erza mused.

"But are you okay now?" Lucy asked, still worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Natsu was quick to reassure. "I don't have anything or… hey, what's that you have Erza?" The fire mage pointed at the roll of fabric Erza had under her arm.

"Huh, we think we found the lost tapestry?" Lucy said in an uncertain voice.

"In that case, we're done here, no?" Gray asked.

"Yep." Erza said with a nod.

"It's about time…" Lucy let out as she took a look around. "This is an interesting room. Looks like it might have been inhabited after the ghosts set in…"

"What makes you think that?" Asked Erza.

"Well, it looks slightly lived in?" The blonde mage said as she tapped on her chin, pensively.

"Hmm, you may have a point." Gray agreed. "In that case it might be for the best that we leave soon?"

"But I didn't smell anything as anyone being here for quite a while, more than ten years, minimum."

"Your nose might be good, but it isn't that good…" Gray objected.

"Whatever, let's just leave."

"Yeah, this place still makes me feel uneasy…" Lucy chimed in.

Gray stood and extended his hand to Natsu and helped him to stand. The fire mage nearly fell on top of Gray as he momentarily was off-balance but managed to straighten himself up at the last moment.

Without another word they left the room and hurried towards the door. As soon as they reached it the whole structure of the mansion started to tremble, making the mages run out the door at full speed. As soon as Erza, who was holding the tapestry, crossed the threshold, the rumble of the movement of the house increased and a strange, ethereal green creature that seemed like a green-skinned demon, with yellow eyes and grey short hair came to greet them, tail moving slowly behind it.

"Thank you so much for coming here to retrieve that. Now that it's going to be returned to its rightful owner, we'll be allowed to return to our home." The demon-like creature bowed before returning inside.

A strange pale green mist started to emanate from the building and the mages had the presence of mind to run for it before the mist seemed to solidify, still everything for one instant, before fading away, taking the mansion with it.

"The mansion…" Natsu said, astounded.

"It's gone now." Lucy concluded.

They looked at each other and hurried out of the estate, not taking as much as a look back.

While they hurried towards the village, Natsu happened to touch his left wrist and felt warmth. When he, walking slightly slower than his friends, looked inside the band, he saw that the first cylinder was warm and, where before the marks were faded and indiscernible, he now could read one word.

 _aluc_

And that, was unexpected.

Natsu hurried to catch up with his friends, wondering about what might be the meaning of the previous events.


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N:** So, here's another one! Hmm, more stuff happens but I'm not sure if I'm entirely pleased with the way things went. Hopefully it's still interesting enough?

Unbetaed, sorry about that... ^^'

Feedback's awesome, as always.

* * *

Chapter four

Many hours later, when they had already returned to Magnolia and the guild, the team had split up to head to their respective places. Natsu went to his house and couldn't help but sit in his bed and stare at his wrist.

He was alone, for the moment, as Happy had been somewhere else – probably with Wendy – so when the fire mage returned home it was just himself and his thoughts.

He pushed back the arm guard and there it was, the bracelet was completely normal. Well, now that he had more time to inspect it, there was a slight difference. Those words were there and the metal seemed to have a different shine, more polished.

"Aluc…" Natsu said the word out loud, letting it roll over his tongue. It was foreign but the word was heavy with an unknown meaning and the tang of magic too. "What does this mean?" he said in a huff before putting back the fabric over it and falling back so that he was laying in bed. He placed his right forearm over his face and let out another grumble.

After a while he turned to his side and fell into a strange awake-yet-not-awake state where he dreamed. Well, he was too aware of things to be asleep but the things he was seeing weren't happening, for sure.

Two shadows moved across his room, movements too diffuse and dark for him to see clearly but one of the forms was walking from one side to the other, only pausing to extend the hand at the other. The other form also did the same movement before falling to a kneeling position.

It seemed important, it seemed familiar, but nothing reached Natsu.

He smacked his lips as he scratched his belly before turning to the other side and into a more deep sleep.

A while later he awoke to knocks on his door. That startled Natsu awake and had him heading to the door. On the other side was Wendy, Carla, Happy and Gray. Natsu raised his eyebrow at seeing the ice mage in there.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?" was his question, followed by a yawn.

"We were on our way to the guild and Happy wondered if you were still home. On our way here we found Gray and he's been coming with us." Wendy answered with a pleased grin.

"Ah, okay. So, we're going to the guild?" he turned his back on them and quickly grabbed the rest of his things before heading out the door with his friends.

At the guild things were as usual, the cheerfulness in the air would always make those who arrived feel lighter, happy.

The group joined Erza and Lucy who were already sitting at the table. They were talking in low tones, heads nearly joined as they spoke, they were bent over a leaflet that was on the table.

"Hey girls, what's that?" Gray asked.

Both girls lifted their heads and took in the newcomers.

"Hi, Wendy." Lucy said as she surreptitiously slid the leaflet under the table. She and Erza exchanged a look.

"What were you girls looking at?" Natsu asked as he sat down.

"Oh, nothing. You know, the usual." Lucy shrugged it off.

"It's… doesn't matter." Added Erza.

"Now you've got me curious." Gray said as he looked at his friends.

The noise of the room got more audible as it cut through the silence the duo had seemingly imposed. And then, Lucy cracked.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But it's stupid." She said as she seemingly curled upon herself. Erza placed a hand on her shoulder in silent support. "A friend of my father kind of gave me a mission. And I can't exactly deny…" She placed her elbow on the table and leaned on her open hand, a slight pink darkening her cheeks. "He has some fields nearby, from what he tells me. They're near the forest, I think…"

"I don't see what's wrong with that…" Gray countered, a hand waving in a 'what else?' motion.

"The problem is that his fields are being attacked by… Feisans. He wants me to go and control the plague of feisans and that's not… I don't even know how to do that!"

Natsu made a noise, which made his friends turn to him. At that he couldn't help himself and started laughing.

"You…!" he laughed. "Catching feisans? There's something really funny with that picture." He grabbed his stomach as he bent over himself due to his laughs.

"Thanks for being so understandable…" Lucy shot back venomously.

"Don't worry, we'll help you." Wendy said.

"I told you." Erza said with a smile.

"We can't let you go there alone. But we'll have to find a way to do the job. I don't know anything about feisans…" said Gray.

"They're these small birds," Lucy gestured to show the approximate size. "They reproduce quite fast, that's how they start becoming plagues. But from what I read, they help control the small insects from attacking the crops – until they start attacking the crops themselves."

"But is there anything that can help us?" Asked Wendy.

"They're crazy over girantemun seeds, I think? But those seeds are hard to find."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I know of… maybe the farmers might help with traps and cages?" Lucy finally replied.

"Sure thing. And for when's the mission?" Natsu was quick to ask, clapping his hands with finality.

"As soon as possible. But… aren't we being strangely used like this? With our magic…?" the blonde mage asked, letting out a sigh as she leaned back on her chair.

"We're here to help the population. It's not uncommon to go on some really random and weird stuff." Natsu said with a shrug.

"I've had weirder missions. And so did Erza. You kind of came to the guild when the weird missions seemed to calm down a bit." Gray said. "Once I had to guard a person from going from one house to another on the other side of the street. When we got there kitchen supplies started raining on us. Turns out that the cousin of the old lady I was guarding hadn't taken too well to some news and she didn't want to let her cousin in to retrieve whatever." Gray raised his hands and pretended to be warding off things from falling in his head. "I still don't know how my ice shield managed to hold."

"Pfff, I think that the case of the glasses was worse!" Natsu scoffed. "This old man wanted me to find his glasses. He said that he'd lost them and so I had to look all over his place. Turns out that he had them on his head. Sadly, any time I tried to point that he had some glasses on his head, he would cut me off. I ended up thinking that it was another pair." Natsu rolled his eyes. "Sadly, no…"

"We've all had the more… random missions, I guess…" Erza surmised. "But we'll help you and in no time you'll be done with that plague. Okay?" She winked at Lucy.

"Thanks, guys."

* * *

On the following morning, the group of friends met at the guild for a quick breakfast before heading to the fields, and towards the mission.

They walked down the well-paved road, calmly and in high spirits. They were relaxed and teasing each other, the theme of wacky missions still being the reason for a lot of laughter.

They'd walked quite a distance, the forest undulating with the wind to their right side, every now and then birds would fly into the sky – although there were a few that did flew really close, only missing them by a hairsbreadth – and on their left side, the sloping hills with their flowery bushes would wave at them, spreading a sweet scent into the air. In the distance, the river shone and welcomed them, a tempting sight that would no doubt be remembered by the team in the warmest hours.

After a while they followed through a trail that led inside the forest, cutting a path into the shade created by the trees. The air was slightly chilly, and the lower sides, beneath the treetops, seemed to be still, the few bushes that grew there weren't ruffled by the weak breeze. It seemed as if inside the forest, the area where the barks were unimpeded, were frozen in time. But, the team didn't give but a distracted glance at these events, being more focused on the path and, after another while, seeing one or two people – the tenants of the place.

"Ah, you're finally here." One of them said, it was a young man with short, sandy hair and green eyes and who was wearing simple, yet sturdy, clothes. The grey shirt was dirtied with mud both at the elbows and the front. The young man also had a bit of dirt on his left cheek but seemed to be unawares of that. "The boss said that help would come soon."

"It should have been sooner." Said the other tenant, an older man with black hair, though it was streaked with grey, in similar clothing but in slightly better condition. He turned at the group of friends to inspect them, grey eyes seeming to cut into each of the mages – and give them the impression that they were inferior. "He never listens…"

"Oh, don't be like that, you know how people like that can be, Sletu."

"You don't know how many jewels he might have saved himself if he listened to me. I told you already, Frel!"

"Hmm, we're from Fairy Tail and have been called to help you take care of the plague of feisans." Erza interjected. "How can we do this?"

"Well then, what we've been doing so far is taking them down the field," the younger one, Frel, said. "There we manage to cage them and then send them to a few villages nearby who actually have the structures to hold them as they trade them and whatever." He ended with a shrug before sticking his hands in his pants' pockets.

"So, there are people who do things with feisans?" Lucy asked.

"Yep. You'll find that they're a delicacy in a few places." Sletu answered gruffly. "But now, are we here to work or to talk?" he placed his hands on his hips and seized in the mages. "We're not used to weird magic here so don't get too eager. We need to protect a certain balance or the crops will go awry."

"So… we have to run around?" Gray asked.

"Pretty much." Said the two men in unison.

The friends exchanged looks before Lucy asked.

"But, how about the girantemum seeds? Can't we use them?"

"The boss doesn't like them. Not only they're expensive but they can also become a problem…"

"This is going to be sooo fun…" Gray muttered sarcastically, making the friends give pained grins in response.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Gray. We can do this easily." Natsu said as he clapped Gray on his arm, advancing to follow the men. "Maybe we'll be allowed to try that delicacy…" they heard him saying.

"And we have a crazy person in our midst…" Gray added, throwing a baffled look at the girls. They just shrugged and went after the others.

It was going to be a long day…

* * *

Catching feisans wasn't all that easy. The little beasts squirreled away in some incredible ways whenever the mages thought they had caught them. Boxing them into one area to where the cages were was also quite a challenge. It didn't help that the terrain was slippery, from the watering done earlier.

So, in no time everybody was looking pitiful and very dirty.

Thankfully, around noon, they were called, for both a break and to have lunch.

"Whew, finally, a break." Lucy groaned as she sat at one of the chairs inside the small house.

"You look wonderful." Natsu teased her.

"You talk as if you looked much better." Lucy plucked a fleck of dried mud from her arm and threw it at the fire mage.

"Meh, it's a bother that we can't use magic, though." Natsu said with a pout before he started "shaking his head vigorously, spraying mud everywhere.

"Stop that, you dumbass." Gray kicked the fire mage from his chair, stealing it and sitting himself in it.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Natsu cried in outrage. Gray just stuck out his tongue.

"Besides, I don't think that your magic would be much appreciated, Natsu." Erza added sensibly. "I don't think that fire and the crops would end up well…"

"Yeah, it would probably end up with a furious owner coming after us. And a lot of troubles for Lucy, I bet." Gray added.

"Ah! As if you could do something with your ice magic." Natsu said as he tried to dislodge the ice mage from the chair. "The plants would all die too." He concluded before giving up on trying to take Gray out and decided to sit _on_ him.

"Oi! What are you doing?" Gray started trying to throw Natsu to the ground but that proving to be impossible.

"I'm sitting on my chair." Natsu said in a smug voice.

"Could you two _please_ behave, for once?" Lucy said as she hid her face in her hands, after seeing the two tenants laughing at the figure of her friends.

"I think that's cute." Wendy said.

Lucy and Erza looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Cute…?" They repeated.

"No way!" Said the boys in outrage. And with the distraction Gray was able to shove Natsu off his lap. The fire mage ended up sprawled on the floor and throwing a dark glare at Gray.

"You sure are a lively bunch." Said Frel as he started setting the table, also having found a few more seats for everybody. "I think that we're going to have some more manpower after lunch, huh, probably a couple of hours after it, to be honest. During the warmer time they feisans can turn quite excitable and then they'll bite. Those bites are no fun, let me tell you…" he pushed up the sleeve to show a bruised forearm. The girls made an "aaww" noise in acknowledgement. "Anyway, lunch is just about ready. You can head out to the privy to wash your hands." He pointed in the right direction and thus the team went.

Lunch was different. The two men didn't seem to want to say much and they just focused on their plates. The team behaved slightly better than usual, the boys were slightly intimidated by the intense glares that the man would throw at them every now and then. And they seemed to be mostly focused on Natsu.

"Did you do something to him?" Gray couldn't help but mutter at Natsu.

The fire mage looked at him with a lost expression.

"I don't have a clue. I didn't do anything, promise." He replied in an equally hushed tone.

Both noticed that the glare had returned, as if the man had heard them, so they lowered their heads and continued to eat their stew, only looking up to grab some bread.

The girls seemed to be slightly amused at the strange behaviour of the boys, for it really wasn't usual to see them so intimidated by a person.

After they finished the meal, they helped cleaning the area and Lucy managed to be alone with Natsu time enough to ask him.

"Why are you behaving so weirdly? I don't think that you've done anything to Sletu, have you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Me? No!" Natsu denied with a frown. "It's not my fault that he's looking at me as if I've… I don't know, as if I was the one who let the feisans loose over the fields. I didn't do anything yet he's looking as if he could read my insides or whatever!" Natsu ended up his tirade in a hiss.

"Okay, but it's weird. Doesn't it look like he knows you?" she teased. "Give it up, maybe you've done something to him once? We all know how you can be when the 'destructive mood'," she made quotation marks with her fingers, "sets…"

"Oi, you speak as if I was the worst of the bunch…" Natsu scoffed. "I'm not."

"Should I remember you about the mission with the flute?" Lucy said as she lazily turned her head to look at Natsu.

"I didn't do anything. It was shared…" was the vehement reply.

"Sure it was…" Lucy shook her head with a smile. "Come on. Let's see what's up with the others."

"I really don't know why you're being so mean to me." Natsu said with a mock-pout.

"Come on, don't be such a baby." Lucy curled her arms around one of Natsu's and started dragging the fire mage to where their friends were sitting at the table. The two tenants seemed to have disappeared.

"They said they were going to take a quick nap as they'd been up since before sunrise." Erza replied to their silent question.

"Must be tough." Wendy said.

"Life in the country usually is." Erza replied.

"And so, what are we meant to do during this time?" asked Gray.

"Sleep too?" Natsu hazarded, letting out a yawn as he placed his head on the arms he'd folded over the table.

"After you had your fill, you're only good to sleep, huh?" Lucy poked at Natsu's arm. But it was no use, the fire mage was already gone. "I can't believe this."

"That's Natsu…" Erza and Gray said with different degrees of exasperation.

They ended up talking about nonsensical things, Lucy telling them the story of how she had met the owner.

* * *

Natsu awoke to what sounded like a drum. It was a rhythmical noise that went _one-two, one-two, one-two_ and rose Natsu from his light slumber.

The fire mage straightened and stretched, hearing the clicks of his bones aligning back with satisfaction. He looked around and his friends seemed to be distracted, huddled around the fireplace. They didn't seem to be hearing the beat of the drum – and for one quick moment Natsu did wonder _why_ – but now that the fire mage was awake it did seem like it was resounding louder. Natsu got up from his chair and left the small wooden house, following the noise that seemed to only be in his mind and, strangely, pulsing on his left wrist, and heading into the forest.

The overall darkness was cut in some points by beams of sunlight that seemed like stabs of light made into the yielding flesh of the greenery.

Natsu's feet led him through a path – it had gone unnoticed by him before – and as he walked he was bathed by both the coolness of the shadow and the warmth of the sun, so familiar to him.

The dual sensations prickled at his skin and Natsu wondered where the drums would lead him to.

It was… a small break in the trees, not enough to be a clearing but enough for Natsu to extend his arms and still be inside the circle of light.

The beating of the drum suddenly vanished and Natsu found himself alone in the middle of the forest and plunged inside a deafening silence. Then, the trees and vegetation started rustling, a wild breeze that grew into sharp winds that twirled around Natsu, the crescendo of noise almost being visible on the naked eye before it crashed upon Natsu, almost as a physical force. The fire mage was taken by surprise, he had never imagined that such a thing might happen and he was thrown into a large tree. The bark was large enough to sustain the fire mage who knocked his head with some force and slumped down, unconscious.

* * *

Natsu found himself lying on a dark, rough surface. He ran his hands through it and distantly associated it with trees; like a tree bark. He had a bit of difficulty opening his eyes but when he managed to, he found himself before the mirrors, once again. The one on the left remained as the last time he'd seen it, _aluc_ strangely suspended in ethereal darkness. But the others were still shifting, the wind that had knocked Natsu unconscious seemed to be blowing in this place too and that made the mirrors sway slightly.

Then, the sound of drums returned, only now it was much, much louder. And the worst part was that it resonated deep inside Natsu, making everything vibrate. Natsu tried to stand but his balance was inexistent and he slumped into the ground. The vibrations seemed to become stronger, the noise piercing Natsu's ears as the drums seemed to ripple through his body and make it start to disassemble itself from within.

Natsu couldn't gasp, let alone scream, without it hurting himself even further. It seemed as if the world was filled with hurtful noise, each and every note meant to pierce Natsu at where he couldn't protect himself, becoming an unending torment.

The pain was such that Natsu lost the ability to think, almost lost the ability to breathe.

But then, a soothing tone reached him through the cacophony, pushing the chaotic noise aside and allowing Natsu to focus himself in just that one tone.

Natsu let out a relieved breath and let himself relax against the ground. Natsu could now open his eyes and come to a kneeling position before he slowly stood up. The mirrors had stopped swaying and rippling and were now as they had been that other time around, only with the difference that the second mirror coming from the right was now glowing, a green aura surrounding it. The symbols that had been running by the tree-like frame, most of it being intelaced twigs and branches, a few leaves peeking here and there, stilled and, like the other time, they rushed towards Natsu and created a screen that protected the fire mage from the breaking of the glass.

Another word had appeared on the darkness that filled the mirror.

 _inel_

The bright light hit Natsu before he felt the ground slipping from under his feet and he woke up, a wheezing gasp coming from his lungs.

A thunderous noise reached his ears, filling his head and then it decreased in intensity but Natsu could hear noises that he didn't think he could earlier. He heard small rodents, well hidden inside their burrows and eating, birds twittering and their wings flapping, the distant noise of hooves stepping over fallen leaves, something ruminating in the distance.

Natsu opened his eyes and was met with Gray, once again.

His eyes widened and he startled, sitting up tensely, which made Gray let go of him as if he'd been scalded.

"Natsu. Can you hear me?" Gray was saying but Natsu couldn't hear him well, it seemed like he was speaking from too far away. And that, despite him being a scant distance from him.

"Gray?" he asked dumbly, also unable to fully hear his own voice.

"Hey, you're awake…" Gray said in a gentler voice, one hand coming to the back of the fire mage's head to feel the bump from the crash against the tree. "How in the world did you manage to get thrown into the tree?"

"I…" Natsu grimaced slightly as Gray pressed slighty harder on the bump. "Ouch, that hurt, okay?" he furrowed his brows as he tried to focus. "I don't know what happened. I thought I heard something…" he said pensively.

"You shouldn't have come here alone. What if you'd been attacked by the feisans?" Gray scolded gently, the hand that wasn't cradling the back of Natsu's head coming to clamp down on one of his forearms. "Those things seem harmless but they aren't."

"I didn't think of the feisans. But I would have burned them to a crisp, this isn't the fields anymore." Natsu looked straight at Gray, his hearing getting more attuned now.

"And then you would have set a fire to the whole forest. That's just genius…" Gray said, words dripping with sarcasm.

"What's that to do with you, anyway? How did you know that I was here?" Natsu asked as he started shaking his head but quickly stopping that because of the ringing in his ears. "Okay, not a good idea…"

"I came after you because I saw you leave but there was something in you that seemed off. And then I was slightly lost for moments but there was the rustle of wind – it was quite loud, to be honest – and I heard you hitting the tree and smacking that hard head of yours against it." Gray scowled. "But apparently there's nothing to worry about because your head is as hard as expected."

"What do you mean with that, huh?" Natsu scoffed. "Let me up, come on."

Gray made a noise followed by a growl that were caught in his throat before he slowly let go of Natsu and stood. He extended his hand for Natsu to take. The fire mage took it and was slowly hoisted up.

"You might want to stop going to places alone, okay?" Gray asked with uncharacteristic candour. "It's… I don't think that it's working and if something happens I don't think that the girls will be pleased."

"Hey, I didn't want to leave like that, okay? And it's not like the feisans were going to maul me to death or anything." Natsu was waving at Gray distractedly when he felt a strange zing shoot up his arm. He nearly tripped and his breath caught in his throat with a soft "ah".

Gray turned around to see what had happened to the fire mage to see him standing and frowning at his left wrist, which he was holding with his right hand.

"What's the matter?" Was the confused question.

"N-nothing… I… nothing." Natsu denied through his whole posture was screaming that it was something. Gray took a step towards him but Natsu started shaking his head and threw a glare at him. "Stop! It is _nothing_. Let's go inside, see the others."

"But Natsu…" Gray started.

"Gray. Let's. Go." Natsu said with finality, the seriousness that surrounded him making Gray gulp a little before relenting.

"Okay, fine. But I'm going to find out, you hear?"

"Whatever." Said Natsu after he let out a heavy sigh.

Gray turned his back on him and headed to the house, Natsu only a few steps behind, still cradling his wrist but a mix of curiosity and dread churning inside of him.

He slipped the arm band slightly and, as expected, the second bead was different, more polished and with a word carved on the side, in stark relief.

 _inel_

"Shit." Natsu said to himself before putting the fabric on its rightful place and hurrying after Gray.

He had to find out what was happening.

Soon.


	6. Chapter Five

**A** **/N:** Whew, this chapter took a little longer to come out than expected. Then again, it's a bit longer... Hopefully it's still enjoyable.

Hm, I might write the story of The Heartless Lovers someday. :P

Anyway, we still have a bit of mystery going. Let's see what happens next, shall we? ^^

Unbetaed.

Feedback would be nice, as always. ^^

* * *

The girls seemed to be surprised to see the boys entering the house. And even more surprised because of the slightly heavy air surrounding them.

"Did something happen?" Erza asked.

"Where did you two go?" Lucy added.

"I thought I had seen something." Natsu said in a terse voice.

Looking at Gray who shook his head and made motioned at them to stop asking questions the two girls looked at each other. With a press of their lips they let the matter drop and turned their backs on the boys to go sit next to Wendy. The younger mage was dozing on the padded bench and was leaning against the wall.

"Didn't we tell you that you weren't supposed to go outside?" came the question from one of the small adjacent rooms. The friends instantly looked in the direction of the voice.

"What does that have to do with you, what we do or don't?" Natsu grumbled, mood instantly darkening as he saw that the older man, Sletu, was glowering from behind the younger one.

"We're saying those things for your protection, you ungrateful brat!" the man strode and stopped in front of Natsu, towering over him and exuding a menacing aura. "We don't need the likes of you in this place."

"What?" the others asked in confusion, even Wendy awoke from her sleep with the commotion.

"I'm not the likes of anything!" Natsu all but shot back, curling his hands and his body subconsciously shifting into an attacking position.

"I wouldn't say so, you piece of Imp' material."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Was Natsu's taken aback reply.

"Hey, you have no reason to talk to him like that. We're only here to help." Erza said, going to stand beside Natsu and placing a hand on his shoulder. He relaxed fractionally, but was still pretty coiled up and ready to bash the man's head against the wall, were he to say anything else.

"Pff, you don't have a clue, do you?" he said before turning on his heel and heading to one of the adjoining rooms, shouldering past Frel who was standing in surprise and didn't seem to be understanding anything that was going on.

"Hey, Sletu-!" he started saying but then the door was closed with a bang and the room stood still in awkwardness.

"What did just happen?" Lucy finally asked.

"No clue…" was the stilted answer.

"Okay, then…" Frel seemed to be overwhelmed by the awkwardness. "Hum, well, yeah. Don't mind what that old grouch said. He didn't have the easiest of lives, as he was on the run from some… people?... and he was told to remain exiled for one thing or another." He ended up with a half-hearted shrug. "But…" he clapped his hands. "I think that I hear the reinforcements. The time to go back to work has come and maybe you could give us another hand before leaving? That would be a huge help." The young man ended with a small grin, scratching at his cheek.

"Sure, we'll do what we can to help." Erza took control of the situation again. "Let's just see if things like these don't happen again…"

An awkward air still weighted down on the friends, which made the tension between Natsu and Gray all the more apparent. But, nobody said a word, focusing instead of the work at hand – which did need their attention. As such time passed swiftly.

It was early evening when the group returned to Magnolia. They were tired and dirty and the outburst from the afternoon hadn't left their spirits yet.

"But, what do you think he might mean?" Lucy asked, as she and Natsu were walking slightly ahead of the others. She curled her arms around one of Natsu's plastering herself slightly to his side. She knew that it was one way to make him crack and say whatever he needed to.

"I told you already. I don't have a clue. The man was probably still asleep and having a nightmare or something…" Natsu said with a scoff though he knew that it was a very weak answer.

"I doubt about that nightmare thing, after all, he was glaring at you during lunchtime…" Lucy let her head fall so that it rested on the crook between Natsu's neck and shoulder. But she didn't stay like that for long as it was an uncomfortable position.

"And we're all baffled about that – I know I am. Could you just… leave it alone?" Natsu finally asked in an uncharacteristically tired voice.

"Oh, sure, sure." She finally said, letting off the fire mage a little and letting go of his arm. "Now I kind of can't wait to find myself in bed. I'm soooo tired." She started saying, effectively shifting the conversation to other themes. "What about you?"

"Can't wait to shower." Said Erza.

There were grumbles of agreement coming from behind as the other mages followed.

"And food." Natsu reminded everyone.

"Ah, I'm so tired that I could pass on food." Lucy threw a surprised look at Natsu. The fire mage had seemingly returned to his normal state.

It was with loud sighs of relief that they got to the guild, where Natsu entered to go grab Happy while the others went their own way.

As the tired fire mage left the guild, Happy chatting excitedly as he flew beside him, he stopped.

Gray was leaning against the wall, slouching slightly as he looked up at the sky.

"What are you still doing here?" was the sure question.

"Waiting." Gray answered cryptically.

"For what? I didn't see the girls going inside, well except for Wendy…" he added as an afterthought.

"For you, of course." Gray pushed back from the wall and walked towards Natsu. "Your story hasn't convinced me and I want answers."

"Why do you think I have the answers?" Natsu replied, flabbergasted.

"Maybe not to everything but at least some, you do."

"I can't believe you!" Natsu threw his arms up and stomped down the street, heading towards his home.

Gray rolled his eyes at the over the top reaction and turned to Happy.

"Let's go?"

"Did something happen?" The blue cat wondered, surprised.

"Yeah, and Natsu is going to tell me whatever it was, whether he likes it or not." The ice mage said confidently.

"I don't think that that's going to go well. But… what does it matter to you if something's happening?" Happy couldn't help but ask.

That made the ice mage pause slightly before he shook his head.

"I have my reasons. Now, come on. I'll go with you." Gray put his hands in his pockets and started walking.

"You know what they say about who plays with the fire…" Happy cautioned before he flew after Gray.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to let myself be burned." The ice mage said with a laugh.

* * *

Natsu did end up letting Gray enter his house – and shower and eat – but when the ice mage sat on his old sofa and with a no-nonsense expression Natsu only glared at him and went to his bedroom, slamming the door for good measure, a good answer for Gray's demand.

As expected, there were knocks on the door moments after.

"I don't want to talk now. Go to sleep." He said in a threatening tone, glaring at the wooden door.

"Fine. But don't think you'll escape our conversation." Came the muffled reply before there were shuffling noises and then silence.

Natsu snorted and shook his head. He let himself fall onto his bed, quickly being comforted by the softness. A happy sigh escaped him.

And then his churning thoughts caught up with him.

So…

He had two of the discs on his bracelet that were polished and somewhere out there someone hated his guts for no reason. Not that the latter was all that uncommon… but it confused Natsu, the venom in the man's expression was odd.

"What if these things are connected?" He wondered, pushing off the arm guard and closing his hand in a fist, looking at the bracelet.

"Nah, it's impossible. Couldn't be…" he let his arm fall to his side, with a sigh. "That kind of thing doesn't happen just like that… but maybe Igneel will know something." After having concluded that – though there was no reason for him to be telling that to the empty room – Natsu let out a huge yawn and turned to his side, getting ready to sleep.

He did sleep but after a while, Natsu started to hear noises. They weren't strange noises, per se, but they were too loud sounding. There was the rustle of a body shifting in the sofa, the creak of wood, Happy's sleepy murmurs. Breathing that seemed close, as close as if the person was lying right beside him. The fire mage's nose also twitched slightly, the scents of his house, familiar and comforting and silly but there was another new scent that didn't feel out of place. It was a coldness that reminded him of the powder-like snow of a time before, the freshness of winter as well as the terrible temper.

Natsu was pretty out of it because the scent had a picture forming on his mind, the picture of a very familiar person…

The fire mage woke up, startled, as he heard something crash on the floor. He sat on his bed and looked around but, everything was as it should be. He kept sitting there, ears straining to hear another sound but that was for naught as, for the noises of the other inhabitants, there was nothing.

"What the…?" he mused out loud as he finally got up from the bed.

It felt as if his body had been suddenly caught in a vice, he couldn't move a muscle.

"What the-?" he gulped as the feeling of pressure increased.

The disc that was on Natsu's bedside table seemed to glow, then. It raised on the air before a gash appeared in the middle of it, the brownish colour streaking the metallic-grey colour and looking too much like dried blood.

And then, as if nothing had happened, the disc fell to the ground and Natsu was released from the vice, stumbling to fall on his bed.

The small cylinders of the bracelet seemed to be burning against his skin.

A disbelieving laugh was choked on his throat. He didn't let it out even if he sat up and went to pick the disc from the floor, his expression mildly shocked.

The fire mage placed the disc on its rightful place before lying once more. He closed his eyes tightly and attempted to sleep.

Alas, sleep wasn't coming any time soon.

* * *

Sunrise brought a disgruntled Natsu to his living room. He hadn't slept and needed food, if the day was going as challenging as he planned.

Because Natsu might be all for tackling the days' challenges and whatnot but food was essential.

So, he didn't even glance at the other two and headed to his kitchen, intending to eat and get the energy he lacked because of his sleepless night.

The whole mysterious thing was worrying him – and having his rival _there_ as soon as he awoke from whatever those fainting spells (if he said that out loud he knew that he would never live it down) were wasn't all that fun either – but, he would let things run their course. There were many other things to worry about.

As Natsu was plunged deep in his musings and setting out the food on the table, Gray appeared in the kitchen, still looking sleepy-eyed and with his hair a mess.

"'morning." He said with a yawn.

"'morn'." Was Natsu's mumbled reply. He set out a plate with fish and went to wake Happy.

The trio ate in silence. And cleaned the kitchen and were out the door in no time.

"We still have that…" Gray started but Natsu cut him short.

"No we don't. That's enough, ice brain."

"Don't be so sure." Gray assured him.

It was with another tense silence between them that the girls met them at the guild.

"Pleeeease…" Mirajane was telling Erza as they approached the usual table. "I'm not asking you much, right?"

"I don't think so." Erza was saying, an odd expression on her face and then she noticed the boys. "Good morning."

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Morning!" Happy said effusively.

"So, what's our plan for today?" Natsu said, quickly trying to have something to do.

"So far we don't-" Erza started but was interrupted by Mirajane.

"I need your help! Me, me." She said with her most charming smile.

"Oh? What's happening?" Gray asked.

"Something interesting?" Lucy added.

"Well, I wouldn't say that what I'm asking you is exciting but at least it's interesting. I need your help at the Theatre." She clapped her hands happily.

"The Theatre?" Everyone said – with the exception of Erza, who only let out a sigh.

"Yes. My friend Shun owns the bar and he asked me to help him this time around. You know, staffing it for the party that's going to be thrown for the next big production. I've heard that this one's quite something…" she concluded in an airy tone.

"Oh? Which play is it?" Lucy asked, super interested.

"They're going to start… what was it?... Ah! _The Heartless Lovers_ , I think."

"No way!" Lucy said excitedly. "Oh, yes, I want to go. I've been waiting to see that play being acted and, hahaha, it's so sad."

"Then, why are you smiling?" Gray asked, confused.

"Because it's a love story. So tragic and dramatic…" The blonde-haired mage sighed.

"Girls are weird…" Gray muttered and Natsu started nodding.

"You bet." He agreed. That earned him a surprised glance from the ice mage. "What?" was the baffled reaction.

"Nothing… nothing…"

"Okay, that settles it." Lucy was saying, not having paid attention to the boys' exchange. "We'll help you at the bar _but_ only if we can watch the play."

"Watch? I think that you'll be able to _act_ in it." Mirajane said with a large grin.

"Act?" Everyone asked – but Lucy squeed.

"Yes. That was the second part of the mission, to act as bodyguards to some of the actors. Apparently some weird things have been happening and, well, Shun said that it was better to be safe than sorry."

Lucy started laughing.

"I can't believe this! I have to tell Levy! She'll go crazy!" Lucy was about to stand and go in search of said mage when Mira stopped her.

"Levy's not here… she went on a mission last night…" she said apologetically.

"Awww, what a pity. We were just talking about this actual play a while ago…" Lucy pouted.

"But you'll be able to tell her everything. I bet she'll want to go see the play when she returns." A slightly more placated Erza said. "Fine. Let's do it."

"Yay, I'll tell Shun right away. After lunch let's go to the bar and prepare and then, yes, to the theatre."

"Yosh!"

* * *

The bar was just right across the large building that was Magnolia's theatre. The building of the bar itself didn't have anything too outstanding, but inside, it was a pleasant space. Even if it felt slightly cramped. The mages were used to the guild's wide open area so in a smaller building the differences were instantly noticeable.

"This place looks nice." Said Mirajane as she looked around. "I'll go call Shun and soon enough we'll get to work." Excitement seemed to be coming from her words. "Ah, there you are, Shun, let me introduce you to my friends – they'll be helping me tonight. Guys, this is Shun, the owner."

The man that greeted them seemed quite unassuming. He was of small build, only slightly taller than Mirajane and had a wild dark green hair. He was wearing a dark purple shirt and grey trousers.

"Hey, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm sorry for having to call for you but this was an emergency. My workers had some sort of familiar emergency and so, yeah… that's what you get to work with your friends who are siblings."

"We'll help!" Natsu promptly affirmed.

"Even if we don't exactly know what we'll be doing…" Erza added.

"Ah, nothing too difficult. It's more helping me with the food and drinks – just serving, I managed to find a few people for the cooking – and hold the boat afloat. There's going to be a lot of people, Yutaka assured me of that."

"You mean… Yutaka Tomine, the director?" Lucy asked amid another squee.

"Yes, he's a friend of mine and he's the one who ordered the party. And asked for the bodyguards. Apparently the stars have been meeting a few strange events. Not that I know much about that. But you'll get to see all of that later."

"Alright! So, what are we supposed to do?" Mira asked. And Shun started telling them about their tasks and whatnot. It wasn't all that hard, in the end, and they were used to the bustle from the guild so things weren't going to be too different here.

They learned the display of the area, where the kitchen, pantries, cellar and bathroom were placed and all the tasks that they would probably have to perform.

And then Shun took them to the Theatre, to meet the director and some of the actors. They were introduced to four actors, the ones they were supposed to keep an eye on. And then, they got another surprise… they got to act in the play.

But, they were quickly assured, they weren't going to really act, just going to be supporting characters.

As they were leaving the theatre to head back to the bar, Lucy was still beyond happy. Not only did they meet the actors but now they were also going to enter the play!

The others at that point were just rolling their eyes at her.

"Calm down, it's nothing much." Natsu said finally.

"You just don't get it, Natsu, do you?" She said with a sigh, sitting at one of the bar's tables. "That's a sad play but it's also a play about love. The quest for love, finding it and yet, it slipping through your fingers but never giving up on it."

"And you like that?" Natsu asked carefully.

"Well, I don't like the sad parts, and okay am not overly fond of the blood but I do like the romantic part. A love that not even death can break apart."

"You're too much of a romantic." Gray teased the celestial mage.

"What if I am? I don't see any problem about liking the idea of love." Lucy replied. "But this play does show that love doesn't always have a good ending."

"No? I thought that it was all hearts and rainbows…" Natsu replied.

"Hearts and rainbows?" Lucy giggled. "No, this story is nothing of the sort. The complete opposite's more like it. Let me tell you about it. Sit."

Natsu and Gray sat with her at one of the tables in a corner.

"Hmm, let's see… so, you have this couple. They're in love and for the usual reasons – that being their families' different status – they're separated. So far, so good, right? But then as they're escaping one of the characters is killed by someone of their own family, can you imagine it? And basically the one that lives is literally bathed in the blood and insides of their loved one. And ends up holding the other's heart. There's a… it's part wish, part curse… that binds the alive lover to roam the land until they find their loved one again but they also promise to hunt down those who created the whole situation.

The lover dies but is still condemned to walk on the land. The curse has degenerated and so they become a vengeful spirit who goes after couples and end up collecting hearts. But after a long while they find their loved one again, alas they can't say anything as the remaining lover is a spirit and it's also forbidden. So the spirit watches over their beloved and how they fell in love and then the curse takes action, the heart must be taken.

As the spirit's about to take the heart, the reborn lover remembers and tells the other to take their heart but that will both free and separate the lovers forever. And in the end that's what happens."

"Hm, that's a bit different from the stories I thought you read." Natsu muttered.

"Well, it is a bit different but, I don't know, it tells me something?" She said in a wondering tone.

"That makes me wonder…" Gray added.

"About?"

"If something like that ever happened?"

"Ah, I doubt it. Oh, but another fun thing is that the sexes of characters of the lovers aren't mentioned so there are some interesting takes."

"Maybe it's to show that you don't choose who or how you love?" Gray hazarded.

"Maybe… oh," Lucy straightened and looked at Gray. "I never took you for such a romantic, Gray." She said with a sly grin. "Is love in the air?"

"What? Gray?" Natsu snorted. "I wonder…"

"Hey, what the hell, guys. No! Shut up." Gray blushed slightly.

"Is it a certain mage who has been…" Lucy started in a sing-song voice.

"No! It's no-one. I'm not. But how about you, is there anyone in the love scene?" Was Gray's quick counterattack.

"Me? Ah, no…" Lucy said coyly, a faint blush reaching her cheeks.

"As if…" Gray said, being backed up by Natsu's sniggers.

"Hey! It's the truth. Hmph." She crossed her arms and turned her head to the side with a small huff.

"If you lazy bums have already stopped gossiping…" Erza's voice, coming from behind them, startled the friends.

"We weren't gossiping!" Gray and Natsu instantly denied while Lucy gave a small giggle.

"We're done now." The blonde said as she stood up, the other mages following suit.

"So, what's the plan?" Natsu asked, looking at Mirajane who was talking exuberantly to the owner of the bar.

"It's time to eat before going to the theatre."

"Yay! Food!" Natsu headed to where Mira was as, behind, he left his friends in different states of exasperation.

"That's Natsu…" Gray surmised with a small smile.

* * *

Things backstage were insane.

Natsu and the others were led to a small dressing room where they were instantly taken care of. Since their characters weren't going to say anything, they just had to dress into the right clothes and look the part, as instructed.

"But doesn't this make me look horrid?" Lucy was asking as she was picking at the ugly dress she'd be put on.

"You don't need anything fancy to look like a poor village woman." Gray replied with a snort. He was actually struggling a bit with the metallic links from the shirt.

"At least you'll get to do something more than stand there." Lucy pouted, sitting on the appropriate chair and letting the hairdresser and make-up artist do their magic.

"Oh, yes, being a guard is much better." Gray fastened the belt and grabbed the sword, it was a prop, of course.

"At least we get to walk around the stage. It's better than just being one in the crowd." Natsu entered the small room once again and let himself plop on the chair besides Lucy.

"See?" Lucy said, trying to turn her head and throw a pointed look at Gray but she only got a mumble from the make-up artist and had to still her movement.

"Fine. But it's more than you expected anyway."

"Oh, that's for sure."

"Are you two lovebirds done already?" Natsu teased them before jumping from his chair and heading out the door, just at the moment that the stage manager came to pick them up.

It was show time.

* * *

 _"_ _That's not going to work. They're too close." Aucno's words were filled with despair. He glanced at the other and slumped even further on his chair._

 _"_ _You can't think that way. Otherwise, everything we've done is for naught." Linceu assured him. "You have your chance. Must take it now." He slipped a small bag from one of his coats' pockets and waited for his friend to extend his hand. "Don't forget that the gods protect the daring." He gave a small punch before leaving the room._

 _"_ _If only we knew that the gods would allow for this daring. Alas, we're not blessed." Aucno nearly crushed the small bag. He stood up swiftly and started to walk back and forth, the bag still enclosed in his hand. "But I must." He nodded to no-one in particular and went after his friend._

 _#_

 _Red was bathing the immense marble room. Though, after the battle that had just happened, it wasn't surprising._

 _"_ _It's over. Come, my dear. This is our chance to run." Aucno held Telus' hand tightly and started pulling her towards the garden, their escape route._

 _"_ _I didn't wish for this to end like this…" she said sadly while cleaning her knives – which still dripped blood onto the once white floor – to her pants-leg._

 _Aucno caressed her face and pushed a few of her copper hairs, which were stuck to her clammy skin. They exchanged a quick kiss – the barest brushes of lips – before separating and heading towards the garden. But that was when Telus made a surprised noise of pain. Aucno froze and turned at her. He only managed to see the bright light starting to come from her sternum before it spread, widened and there was a ripping sound before sticky warmth was coating everything. He only had the time to hold onto the biggest mass of what used to be Telus' body and fall to the ground, kneeling in shock. He stared at the form of his beloved, mindless of the fact that he had his free hand curled inside her chest and was, in fact, holding onto her no longer beating heart._

 _"_ _No…" the word escaped his unmoving lips in a hoarse whisper, before he caught himself and repeated that word in a gut-wrenching yell._

 _It was over._

 _It couldn't be over but it was._

 _Telos was no more._

 _And then Aucno uttered the fatidic words._

 _"_ _As certain as the blood on this ground, as wretched as the leaden colour of the sky, to this moment the once forget path has been broken. Torn by the ground but not by the skies. I will continue and will find my revenge when I finally end the cycle, what has been done in here. For the gods, they will pay, I promise that they will pay." He ended his tirade with a choked sob._

 _A lilac light appeared to his side, the figure with a large smile on their lips._

 _"_ _Such promising words…" they said. "We agree. It shall be done."_

 _And then, disappeared._

 _"_ _What was that?" Aucno mused before he realized that his sword was scintillating. He grabbed it and pulled it out, saw the blue-purple flames that came from it and raised, dislodging the corpse from his lap. He walked to where Pelasgo was lying in a puddle of blood, his smug smirk still coating his lips. "Ah, you're smiling now?" he asked, even if he could see that he wasn't all that injured, he was just stuck under a lot of bodies._

 _"_ _You two had what you deserved." The man said and then suffered a fit of coughing._

 _"_ _You had no right to use_ lynrod _!" Aucno yelled in rage before swiftly cutting the bodies that were piled on top of him in two. The prostrated man started to push himself up but the cold metal of the sword was poised right against his collarbone. "That's forbidden for a reason." He said coldly before letting the sword slide and cut a good chunk of his neck, blood bathing his feet. He didn't as much as blink. With a kick, Aucno pushed the body so that it was on its back and in a couple of steady movements, opened the ribcage, kneeling down he rummaged through the insides before his hand curled around the intended goal. And then he pushed._

 _Pelasgo's heart was cradled in his hand, warm and oozing blood._

 _Aucno turned and headed in search of more members of Telus' family._

 _It was time…_

 _#_

 _"_ _I have to go. Don't you get it?" Aucno was pacing in front of the Skeleton Hall, impatient yet wary. "But, who am I talking to? Linceu is no longer with me and all I have are the odd spirits that handle the place." He paused and, in a moment of fury, gave a punch to the wall._

Natsu happened to look up and noticed the large bag that was descending unexpectedly. He instantly headed to the stage.

 _"_ _If only they were here. My support. Alas-" Aucno's musings were stopped as one of the guard spirits walked by and pushed him, making him nearly fall to the ground._

 _"_ _Sorry, sorry…" Was the rushed reply before Aucno let out a disgruntled sigh. There were signs telling him not to go. "Should I tempt the Fates? The signs advice against but, still, I feel I must…"_

Natsu let out a breath of relief at the actor's quick cover. He had managed to push the man away in the brink of time and, that sure was something.

The fire mage was met on the other side of the curtain by a grateful stage hand and ushered backstage as the scene continued. The near-misses seemed to happen at random moments and they had a somewhat large interval between.

The fire mage shrugged and headed to the dressing rooms, but then there was something that caught his attention. Inside one of the other doors Natsu's eyes were attracted to a red fabric that had golden embroidering. And there was something in it that got burned deep inside Natsu's mind, he felt the undeniable urge to go and touch it.

And his feet went through and followed the unconscious command.

He was extending his hand right at the moment when he heard Gray's voice.

"Hey Natsu!"

But, his hand followed through with the movement and touched the fabric. At that moment Natsu's mind blanked out, his sight glazed over and he lost consciousness.

"Natsu!" The ice mage's distressed voice was the last thing that he perceived on the outer edges of his consciousness before darkness overcame him.

And Gray managed to catch Natsu before he fell, ending up kneeling on the floor with a braceful of passed out fire mage.

* * *

As Natsu came to, he first realized that he didn't seem to be lying in a solid surface.

Beneath it, it seemed as if the ground was a fluid of sorts, the way it was moving in there, tiny movements that made his body sway. The fire mage found himself in a place that, by now, was slightly familiar. The five mirrors still hovered slightly above the ground, they still had the colourful glow – in each their individual colours, though it seemed like in the three mirrors that still had the reflective plane it was stronger – and the twisting and twirling around the frames. The unknown words still hovered before him.

 _aluc_

 _inel_

And the mystery was still the same.

The fire mage slowly began to sit up but the ground underneath started caving in, almost as if inky black quicksand had just formed below his form, Natsu started to be engulfed.

"Wha-!" he breathed out as his arms started being pulled downwards harder, as if being pulled by invisible vines. That was when a strange sensation started to course through him. It was as if he was being touched by an immense number of hands, the feeling too invasive.

He tried to struggle against it, to react but his body wasn't responding. At that moment the fire mage started to feel the strange disconnection as if his body was shutting down on him and he couldn't do anything against that. He had never felt such a thing, not even after some really hellish fights. Then he would always feel the bruises and aches coursing through him. But now this… he'd felt that to a lesser degree earlier but now it was overwhelming – too much.

Natsu closed his eyes and paused. One of the things one shouldn't do when in a similar situation was struggle in alarm that would make him go down faster.

But, at the same time, his body was _cold_.

And that was something that was a novelty to Natsu, he had never felt the absence of inner warmth in this way. It was a feeling that was beyond baffling to the fire mage.

But, despite everything, just thinking about the _cold_ made the image of Gray appear in his mind's eye for a brief moment. Natsu frowned.

'Why the fuck am I thinking about the stupid ice mage? Frozen brain…'

But that image had apparently opened a floodgate. A series of moments with Gray started to flash through Natsu's mind but apparently that didn't matter to the place he was in, the coldness quickly turned into warmth. A strange warmth that came from a series of pinpricks being stabbed onto his body, from every direction. It was as if the hands that had previously been touching him in that invasive way had multiplied and been armed with small daggers and now were having fun poking at him. At the same time, on the surface the ink had turned solid, and was approaching and approaching Natsu's throat, almost like a noose.

Natsu's breath caught on his throat and he restarted struggling, calling for his inner fire to come forth, even if it was all for nothing.

"C'mon!" he wheezed, doing his damnedest best to get out of the horrible place.

The ground shook, constricted and made Natsu feel as if he was being caught inside a vice once again.

The trembling returned but this time there was something different, cold hands seemed to be grasping onto his arm and torso, fanning the warmth deep inside of Natsu into a blaze.

Starting to feel slightly more like himself Natsu managed to bring a hand at his throat and pull, even though the fluid substance he was in slipped through his fingers the fire mage started to feel better – at least he regained the capacity to breathe unimpeded.

The cold hands appeared to be pushing him away from that hole, freedom and full possession of his magic regained.

Crawling slowly, the fire mage found himself out of the hole, and he lay on the seemingly sandy surface right before the mirrors. He was tired.

But the mirror from the right side, the first if one counted from right to left, started glowing more strongly and the usual thing happened, the wave like forms that danced around the frame jumped out from the it, scorched the sand on the places where they passed and came to a stop in front of Natsu, where they united and formed a faint red film, right on time to protect the mage from the shattering of the glass.

Every little shard that touched the film in front of Natsu burst into a tiny flame before disappearing.

When things calmed down slightly, Natsu was allowed to see the word that now floated on the nothingness inside the mirror.

 _key_

Natsu only had the time to take it in before the ground shook again, tiny pinpricks of awareness starting to appear on the fire mage's skin as he looked around and saw the space around him turn into grey and then white.

It was as if a switch had been clicked in Natsu's mind, he snapped up as if a bucket of water had been poured over him. The fire mage sat up and nearly knocked his head against Gray's nose. The ice mage made a startled noise as he sat back, wide eyed.

"Natsu!" He exclaimed, hands clamping on the fire mage's shoulders and shaking slightly. "What the fuck happened!"

"Ah, Gray, stop it." Natsu gave a half-hearted punch to his chest before letting out a weary sigh. "You want to know what happened? I don't have a fucking clue! Now, let go." Natsu ended up with a scowl, while his right hand instantly went to his left wrist.

"What do you have there? The other day you were also grabbing your wrist." And without further ado, Gray grabbed Natsu's wrist and looked at it. Through the clot he could feel a strange warmth, strange even for a fire mage. "What the hell?" he mused at the same time that he plucked the fabric back, looking at the strange bracelet. A strange expression briefly fluttered over Gray's face before he blinked and focused on Natsu. "This is new…?"

"Hey, since when do I have to explain to you what I wear or not? Do you hear me asking you about that necklace of yours, hm?" Natsu aggressively counteracted, effectively ripping his wrist from Gray's grasp.

"I don't have any problem with you asking me such things." Gray answered in a strangely neutral voice.

"Heh, it's not like I intended to, anyway." Natsu said distractedly as he stood up. "Now, maybe we should see if something happened?" The fire mage continued to hold his wrist.

Gray stood up after him, placing a hand on top of Natsu's so as to still his unconscious adjusting of the arm band.

"Fine, I'll go ahead and check." Gray let go and turned to the door. "Don't take too long."

Natsu didn't answer back, just waited until the ice mage was out the door, had it closed again and only then did he look at the new word, polished on the flat cylinder.

"Alright then, so, something's going to happen when all five of the words appear…" he muttered. And that was, apparently, the extent of his knowledge.

Now, the question was, what was going to happen then?


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N:** Haha, took a little longer than expected to finish this chapter but a few unexpected thing happened. Oh well...

Unbetaed, as usual.

Feedback's appreciated.

* * *

Natsu joined his friends, having taken a moment to compose himself. And to wonder about Gray's strange closeness. Not that it was too out of the blue but at the same time, Natsu had noticed that after every strange event, Gray would be the one to find him.

'Is he following me?' The thought briefly fluttered through his mind. 'Nah, must be a coincidence, Gray's not a weirdo…' Natsu assured himself.

But then he paused and chortled at his own joke. Gray… Not a weirdo... that was a good one.

Everyone from the guild could be considered a weirdo – though Lucy liked to make a posh impression while saying in different tone of voice, "Not weirdoes, eccentric!" and that would make everyone laugh – but that didn't make any of the guild members feel bad. On the contrary, their weirdness just made everyone special.

He was noticed by the girls who nodded at him before turning back to the stage and Gray sent him a strangely loaded look. Natsu frowned at that before turning his attention to the stage too.

The action was still well under way, with now Aucno having found his lover, well, the reincarnation of his lover and the main character was agonizing over the fact that he ought to kill him, ending the curse but separating them forever.

Somehow, Natsu felt sad for the characters. The actors were doing a terrific work and the pain really heart wrenching. Natsu noticed that Lucy had a few tears sliding down her cheeks and Erza's eyes seemed to be slightly shiny – it was really having quite an effect on the girls, that was for sure.

Due to some unnameable reasons Natsu didn't feel like looking at Gray.

* * *

During the rest of the play there was only one other moment where something strange happened. It was right at the end, the play had just happened and all of a sudden a loud noise made the theatre shake. There were a few stage hands running around like crazy because there was smoke coming from one of the dressing rooms.

Thankfully the mages didn't have to act (even if Erza had taken a protective stance right in the middle of the stage) and they were able to undress and head to the bar and to the second part of the mission.

Working at the bar was extremely busy, the mages running around and giving out the drinks and food. It didn't help that, not only the place was ready to burst due to the people from the theatre and the audience but a good number of friends from the guild also decided to go to the bar – as customers, because nobody was in much of a mood to help out.

So that ended with the friends and the owner running around, sometimes what they were doing could even be considered like headless chicken running around.

There were food and drinks aplenty and in the little break they were allowed (because the rumbles of Natsu's stomach were too loud) they did get to try some of the delicacies.

By the end of the night the bar was richer but the pantries were quite empty – because, if there was any food left, Natsu had all the pleasure in finishing it.

The night ended with laughter and drinks and funny re-enactments of the play. First Erza and Lucy started acting one of the scenes, on top of one of the tables followed by Lucy pulling Natsu up and continuing with another scene and finally Erza pulled Gray so that the two mages ended up being frozen on top of a table and for all to see.

"What now?" Natsu asked in a stage-whisper.

Laughs and opinions started to rain on them, the actors finding this amateur sketch extremely funny.

"Do the final scene!" Lucy said excitedly, clapping her hands and her eyes looking strangely interested.

"No way!" Natsu and Gray said in unison.

"Aww, but it's cute and sad…" the celestial mage pouted.

"We're not going to do that. You've drank one cup too many Lucy!" Gray stomped to where Lucy was and took the wooden cup from her hand, sloshing some of the drink over his hand.

"Spoilsport…" Lucy poked at Gray's cheek before walking in a slightly unsteady line to a chair, sitting heavily on it.

"That's it." Natsu jumped from the table. "I think that this would be our time to leave…" he motioned at his friends.

"Since when are you the _voice of reason_?" Lucy asked, hands rising to make air quotes at the same time that she tilted slightly to her side, righting herself at the last moment.

"Voice of reason? What the-? Lucy, you need to get some sleep…" The fire mage shook his head and headed towards his friend, helping her up.

"It was a long day…" Gray agreed.

In no time the friends were out the door and helping the girls out. Natsu with Lucy and Gray with Erza. They headed towards Lucy's house, knowing that it wouldn't be too bad if the girls bunked together for the night.

They arranged for the girls to have water and medicine at hand in the morning and did what they could to have the girls sleep minimally comfortably. Though it just consisted of laying them on the bed and covering them with a blanket.

Before long the boys were walking down the moonlight-lit street.

A hush had fallen over the town – which wasn't surprising, given that it was quite late – with only the most faint noises coming out to play; the rustle of the vegetation and the gurgling noises of the water, the song coming from far away and being carried by the wind, the sound of their steps on the pavement.

Natsu was walking in a relaxed way, not paying much attention to Gray who was by his side.

It was a night that did call out for introspection, the silvery light spreading a peaceful feeling, easing the wary mind. Alas, despite all the calm conditions that surrounded him, Natsu's thoughts weren't peaceful in the least. The whole mystery was getting to be too much and even Natsu's nature of not worrying was starting to fray a little.

Was he going to continue to have these weird spells? And the dreams – if they were allowed to be called dreams, since Natsu was certain that he was awake when they happened – what was their meaning? How was everything related to the bracelet and disc, left to him by his parents?

And what had the other man meant?

Suddenly, Natsu came to a stop. Though he completely stopped still, not even breathing for a moment. As Gray noticed that the other mage had fallen behind, he also stopped and turned around. He saw that Natsu was deep in his thoughts but his eyes had widened and he was unnaturally still.

"Natsu?" he asked slowly, voice sounding almost unbearably loud in the silence.

Yet, Natsu didn't respond.

The ice mage walked to his friend, placing one hand slowly on the other's shoulder. And that seemed to do the trick. Natsu stirred, breath wheezing in and he locked stares with the other mage.

"What if he knows me?" Natsu asked cryptically.

"Huh? What? Who?" Gray replied dumbly. He blinked a couple of times, releasing the fire mage from his light grasp.

"That other man. He could only react like that if he knew me, right?" Natsu took half a step towards Gray before stopping again. "But what does that mean?" he looked at the cobbled pavement and made a half-aborted gesture with his right hand, letting it fall to his side.

"How can you know you? You're not making any sense." Gray replied, in a confused tone.

"No… he must… I have to ask Igneel…" Natsu turned and was about to start running down the street when Gray held out his wrist.

"Igneel? Natsu, tell me what's going on! It's too late to go see your father and-" Gray started saying but the fire mage shook his head.

"I don't care if it's late. He'll understand. The pieces…"

"No. you're not going anywhere. Not tonight." Gray said in a non-nonsense voice. "I'll take you home and you're going to get some rest. Even if I need to sit on top of you."

"How funny, Gray…" Natsu shot back in an unamused voice. "But you don't understand. I must…"

"You must rest. I haven't forgotten about what happened earlier. And, yes, we're going to have a talk about that. And about whatever you're babbling about now." Gray's grasp on the other's wrist tightened fractionally in a 'I'm being serious here' kind of way.

Natsu scoffed.

"I'm fine, Gray. But I… it has nothing to do with you, okay?" the fire mage asked as he tried to free himself from the vice-like grip.

"I don't care if it has or hasn't. You've been acting too weird – even for you – in the last days. And I want to get to the bottom of that. Okay?" As Gray said that he pulled Natsu over, making it so that they were looking at each other, gazes locked and serious, and their faces close. Almost unbearably close.

Finally, Natsu relented.

"Fine. I won't go anywhere and am going to sleep now. Happy?" he raised his caught wrist up and smiled sardonically.

"No. you're going to tell me what's going on. And to see if you don't do anything I'll want your word. But I'm not going to let you out of my sight. Okay?"

"I promise I won't do anything…" Natsu said between clenched teeth, not finding Gray's insistence funny. "Sheesh, you're insisting too much. What are you, a mother hen?" Natsu grumbled a bit under his breath as he started heading towards his house.

"I'm not mother henning anyone!" Gray yelped, hands coming to rest on his hips as he glowered at the fire mage.

"Good. Then you can go get some rest yourself and leave me alone…" Came Natsu's airy reply.

"Nice try!" Gray snorted, walking at a fast pace behind Natsu, catching up to him in no time.

"Hey, I had to try. You're too stubborn." The fire mage said while side eyeing the other mage.

"Look who's talking." Gray shot back, plunging his hands inside his pockets.

"At least I don't lose my clothing as if it were nothing."

Gray's reply at that – and at the fact that he had, somehow, lost his shirt – was a loud imprecation.

Natsu laughed and after that they kept silent for the rest of the way.

* * *

"You know the place of the things, have a good night. It's a good thing that Happy stayed with Wendy for the night." Natsu made a vague gesture with his hand as they got inside. He headed towards his room without looking back and that seemingly irked the ice mage.

"Oi. What do you think you're doing?" Gray's question stopped Natsu dead in his tracks.

"I'm going to my bedroom. As in, to get the rest you were so adamant in me taking? Remember that or is your brain paralyzed due to the cold?"

"My brain's fine, thanks a bunch, but do you think that I'm going to leave you go just like that?" Gray let himself fall down on the rather worn out sofa.

"Like what? I'm not running." Natsu said in a toneless voice.

"Sure…" Gray replied in an unconvinced tone. "You're not a coward, usually…" he let the words out and Natsu rose to the bait.

"Who the fuck are you calling a coward, huh?" Natsu stomped until he was in front of Gray, hands balled into fists on his sides and a deadly glare being thrown at the ice mage.

"Hmm, let's see… you?" Gray said boredly. "Why are you doing all you can to lie to me? And what's that thing you have there?" he threw a meaningful look at the fire mage's left wrist. The bracelet that they both knew was there was well hidden underneath the fabric.

"Seriously, what the fuck's with you and this new obsession over jewellery? It's just trinkets. Like I said earlier, I'm not asking you about the story of your necklace." Natsu flickered at the pendent with his right hand. "So you don't have any reason to ask me about… yeah." The fire mage arched an eyebrow.

Gray's face momentarily flickered into a pained expression before setting back into his neutral, you-don't-have-a-reason-to-hit-me-yet expression.

"What? You're going to tell me that the necklace has a story?" Natsu continued, in a bid to take the attention from his bracelet.

"It has… one day I might tell you. Maybe when you trust me enough to tell me about that bracelet of yours." Gray ended up with a sharp smile, almost as if he was directing it at himself.

"Don't expect it all that soon…" Natsu replied automatically, his brows furrowed at the strangeness of his friend's attitude. "But now, sleep, yeah? I bet that tomorrow's going to be a pain in the ass…"

"I wouldn't say that. But I do want answers Natsu." Gray started with a shrug, only to end gravely. "And you're going to answer me. Or I'll go and ask Igneel. You want to go see him for answers too, right?"

"I… you will _not_ do such a thing!" The fire mage said in a threatening tone. "You're going to leave Igneel out of this." The fire mage poked hard on Gray's sternum with his index finger.

"Then stop being an ass and answer me!" Gray all but yelled as he shot to his feet. "Don't you get that you're being weird and that's worrying? I mean, you're crazy but this is too crazy for even you. And all these things happening. I want answers!"

"I don't have answers!" Natsu yelled. "I'm walking in the dark here, too! And don't you think that it's bad enough for me, without you always breathing down my fucking neck!"

"I haven't been doing that!" Gray denied, making a sharp motion with his hand, cutting down Natsu's retort.

"Yes you have! And it's frustrating!" Natsu turned on his heel and was about to storm out to his bedroom. "And now I'm going to bed before I punch you. I'm not in the mood to clean up."

"Are you ever in a mood to clean up?" Gray wondered in a low whisper. Natsu stilled as he heard what the other had said loud and clear.

"What did you say?" the fire mage asked stiltedly.

"Nothing." Gray said quickly, arching an eyebrow. "We'll talk more tomorrow." He headed to the cupboard and quickly took out the sleeping implements he'd put away earlier that day.

"Bye." Natsu said tersely before closing his door.

The fire mage leaned against the door and let out a sigh. On the other side he could hear the ice mage rummaging through stuff and preparing himself to sleep but, on the other side of the wooden panel, Natsu felt drained.

It felt as if he didn't have any more energy, with it having been sucked all out during the day's events. Not that having been at the theatre was a bad thing, or the end of the night, helping out at the bar but… the last word he'd gotten had been a difficult challenge. Natsu could still remember, as if the phantom feeling of those hands had returned, Natsu felt as if his skin was too tight and he was about to burst. But it was strange because it wasn't a physical sensation, despite everything that his body was going through. And the mental side of things wasn't too tenuous yet but it was as if his core magic had been bubbling and bubbling, its volume increasing until it started to drip down the vessel, overflowing and Natsu didn't have the means to contain whatever was happening because he hadn't noticed anything different, hadn't felt anything different but, through his inattention, something had indeed happened and it was baffling.

Then, the things with Gray. The ice mage was definitely getting strangely pushy.

It wasn't unusual of him to inquire about the well-being of his friends and companions but this thing with Natsu felt premeditated.

He went after Natsu.

He was the one who caught Natsu after whatever it was that happened.

And it wasn't in Natsu's imagination how distressed he'd been. Sure, he would be distressed over something bad happening to his friends but… there was a mobility, an unexpected earnestness there that was surprising. And slightly scary, if Natsu were to be honest.

He didn't know what was going on with Gray.

Not that he knew what was going on with himself, of course.

It was just a lot of confusing things happening at the same time.

And there was also the question. Would whatever that was happening lead Natsu to his parents?

Would he, at long last, find what he was searching for?

With a self-deprecating smile at himself, followed by a shake of his head, the fire mage straightened up and walked towards the bed, letting his clothes fall to the floor – but being careful with the scarf and taking care of placing the disc on the bedside table. He fell to the bed in only his underwear. And hoped to have a good rest during the night.

* * *

It wasn't anything in particular that roused Natsu from his light sleep but he, slowly, found himself regaining awareness of his surroundings.

Distantly, he could hear the slight shuffling from Gray on the other room, the air being stirred by his breathing and how his body shifted against the fabric of his sofa. He accepted that, it was normal – though the half thought wondering about the reason as to why the ice mage hadn't left did flit for a too fast moment before disappearing – but then he woke a little more, feeling a soft caress against his cheek.

It was almost like a déjà-vu, though it was something that happened in the most buried memories, a certainty about having been in such a position before. Fingers tapped lightly against the tip of his nose and chin before Natsu opened his eyes and sat on the bed. He was now wide awake. The fire mage glanced to both sides but there wasn't anyone in the room with him, he knew that.

Then…

What?

How?

With a groan, Natsu let himself fall back into his bed and attempted to fall back asleep.

Sleep took a long time coming but after tossing and turning for too long, Natsu managed to fall into a fitful sleep.

* * *

As soon as the sun was up, and despite not having slept nearly enough, Natsu was out of his bedroom and kicking the sofa, jostling Gray awake.

"I'll be going now. See you later." The fire mage turned on his heel and headed to the door, not pausing, his scarf fluttering slightly behind him.

"Wha-? Wait!" Gray said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to make his sluggish limbs move as fast as his mind was. The sheet that he had – unnecessarily – placed over himself twisted itself around his legs and as Gray tried to stand he stumbled and fell. But that didn't make Natsu turn. The fire mage paused for a beat before continuing. "Don't think that you're going to manage to escape our chat!" he let out in a rough voice before hissing because he'd hurt his side falling.

"There's nothing to talk about." Natsu said with finality before the door closed and a heavy silence curled around Gray.

"You're a fucking coward." Gray muttered wearily. Sitting on the floor, Gray let his head rest against the cushion of the sofa before straightening and running a hand through his messy hair. He huffed. "And some morning, this is…"

And so Gray finally untangled himself from the bedsheet and started getting ready to go after Natsu. The other was most likely heading towards the guild. Gray only had to bid his time to have the conversation.

* * *

When the team finally assembled at the guild later in the morning they were given another mission. It was a simple one, just to accompany Mrs. Gracieters to her summer house. The location was pretty close, in the town of Filoris and so they didn't envision anything too strenuous happening.

The tense silence between the boys did receive a couple of glances from the girls but they also decided to abstain from commenting – for the time being, at least…

Mistress Gracieters was an old yet tough lady. She was of a noble family but had decided to say no to the path her father had meant for her to follow and make her own way. She divided her time between her houses in Magnolia and Filoris and the archaeological excavations she would go into. She had been in the teams that had found an entire town hidden under sand in a country nearby. Despite her upbringing she was pretty simple, and was getting along stellarly with Lucy. The two women were discussing books, some of which the celestial mage had read and that had been written by the other.

Their conversation was going amiably and it might be as if they were just taking a stroll towards the nearby town though the not welcoming glares from both Natsu and Gray would make sure to keep the others away. The two mages were as far as they could get away with, Gray walking ahead while Natsu came last.

The day was actually nice for their stroll. Thankfully Filoris wasn't too far from Magnolia so, they were walking down the slope when Mistress Gracieters decided that it was a good place to have lunch. The road was well paved, being sided by the lush forest to their left hand side while to the right the hill was covered by grass, bushes and flowers. The sweet scent of them reached the group brought by the gentle breeze. The sun wasn't overwhelmingly strong nor was it cold, so it didn't take much problem for them to sit on the grass – though they did look for a rock to sit the older woman in. even if she didn't mind sitting on the grass with them.

The basket of food that Erza had been carrying was quite a blessing for the friends. Natsu's stomach even made growly noises as it was being placed on the blanket. The fire mage quickly gathered food and dug in. there was only an awkward pause when his hand touched Gray's when he had gone to grab another slice of bread. Both mages momentarily froze and pulled their hands back as if they'd been scalded. They didn't dare looking up, deciding to choose something else.

The meal passed with only the girls and the lady talking. Whenever they would try to bring the boys into the conversation they would only get noncommittal noises from Gray or chewing ones from Natsu.

The sun's shine was right above them, as it was midday, and the group started packing the things once again. Natsu excused himself and headed towards the treeline.

* * *

The pull was a strange thing. It wasn't like anything he'd felt before but… the forest seemed familiar, there was something in the scent of it that was deeply ingrained in Natsu's memory. Though what that was, Natsu couldn't respond.

The further he got inside the forest the more the familiarity would be noticeable. Though it was utterly strange since he knew for a fact that it was the first time he came to this place.

With a shrug, Natsu decided to empty his bladder, since it was at hand. As soon as he was ending that, his ears started picking up some noises, metal clashing and voices. He quickly tucked himself in and hurried back the way he'd come only to be stopped by a man in ragged clothes. A bunch of small daggers were thrown in his direction but Natsu quickly evaded them and took care of the man with a punch to his solar plexus. The man flew back against a tree and the fire mage could hear his head knocking against the wood of the bark.

One down.

Now the question was, how many more to go?

He was just about to start running towards where his friends were when by the corner of his eye he noticed a rag. It looked like a rag of a shiny purple fabric.

Frowning, Natsu headed to the tree and started extending his hand towards the branch from where it was pending, as it seemed like the fabric had been tied to it.

'How strange…' Natsu thought, just as his hand was about to touch the fabric.

He didn't manage to reach it because suddenly Natsu got a sharp feeling of vertigo and slumped against the tree.

* * *

Natsu opened his eyes and found himself kneeling on a strange surface. His right hand came forward for him to brace himself and Natsu saw, astounded, as his hand went straight through the crumbling ground.

It was strange because it didn't feel like anything solid yet, it would only crumble at any of Natsu's movements.

With a lot more effort than expected, Natsu straightened up, pausing to breathe heavily before looking around. A soft light, too diffuse in the misty air lit the area and allowed Natsu to take in the set of mirrors. They were familiar by now though the muteness that the mist created gave a softer tone to the sharpness that had met Natsu before.

 _aluc_

 _inel_

 _key_

The strange words stood there for Natsu's appreciation and confusion. The fire mage knew that he was here to find a new word. Though the meaning of said words still escaped him.

Natsu stood and let out a sudden yelp as his weight made the ground shift underfoot and his balance be compromised for an instant.

Finally managing to straighten himself up, Natsu looked at the mirrors.

"What the fuck are you?" he asked. His only response was silence. But the silence was an odd one as it was filled with something. Natsu started huffing, his breath coming harshly and another bout of dizziness took over him. The fire make fell down to his previous kneeling position and tried to draw in air. Tried being the keyword. As much as he tried the air just wouldn't get into his much needed lungs. The fire mage felt as if his mouth was weird, he had his airways blocked, somehow. He tried to speak, but his tongue rested unmovable in his mouth, heavy and foreign. Saliva pooled in and started dribbling drown his chin as Natsu dug his fingers into his legs, attempting for the pain in his legs to distract him from the burning inside his lungs. But even that was for naught.

Then, strange relief flooded through him, as well as an odd taste – it was foreign yet nice. Natsu tried to follow it but the relief lasted for too little. The tightness to his throat returned but at that moment Natsu noticed that the purple light surrounding the mirror was glowing harder, cutting a little through the diffuse mist. The second mirror counting from the right was emitting that light, the stilted-looking icicles that had been surrounding the frame were speeding towards Natsu and they reached the fire mage, forming a circle around him and instantly making the tightness in his lungs disappear. The fire mage was now able to breathe normally. The loud noise of glass cracking and then exploding outwards in a rain of millions of shards followed, though the circle around Natsu was protecting him from it, the tiny shards scintillating before fading out as they touched the protective circle.

As expected, when Natsu looked at the mirror – after taking a good number of breaths to calm his lungs – a new word was shining from the inside of the mirror, the letters written in loopy calligraphy and seeming even more ethereal against the darkness of the void they were suspended on.

 _wean_

'Nice… another one…' Natsu sat back and noticed that the ground didn't have that strangely crumbling quality from before. "It would be really great if someone told me what this all means." He yelled into the plane he was in. there was no reply, his voice didn't even echo back.

The protective circle returned to the frame of the mirror and Natsu grumbled.

Then he thought he could hear something and looked around. There was nothing but Natsu did have the impression that he was being called.

The fire mage glared at the set of floating mirrors once again, only one was remaining with its reflective surface, the others being a well of darkness with the mysterious words painted upon, before turning around. He started walking away but a sharp pain made him nearly jump and turn around. The mirrors were shining ominously – the purple one still had a stronger glow – but then Natsu looked down at his left arm and saw that he was bleeding. A gash slicing down his arm.

"What the fuck!" he managed to say before he was falling into darkness once again.

When he opened his eyes it was to see Gray's face standing way too close to him, a strange franticness in the other mage's bearing.

"Gray? What?" he started mumbling, sluggishly pushing at the ice mage's chest to push him back.

"You're finally awake, you fucking asshole!" was the reply, being said by a glaring Gray.

* * *

Gray had looked absentmindedly as Natsu entered the woods to do whatever – and thought that maybe it was a good idea to go there and take care of some business when the other returned. He was listening to the conversation by his companions while idly picking at bits of grass. The sun on the back of his neck was annoying him and making him feel a bit too warm. So, before he knew it, he had taken out the coat and shirt and was feeling more refreshed, despite having the sun now beating down his back. Then he started feeling a strange prickling sensation. He noticed that Erza had felt the same as she was now glancing towards the forest, covertly, every now and then.

All of a sudden, men ran from the inside of the forest, brandishing weapons and in ragged attires.

Despite their larger number – Gray did a quick count and they were at least twenty – the three mages didn't have much trouble with taking care of them. Their weapons weren't as well kept as Erza's, their clothes didn't protect them from Gray's cold magic and the spirits Lucy invoked caught them by surprise. It didn't help that they were malnourished-looking but the fact that they were launching a coordinated attack showed that this wasn't probably the first time they did such a thing.

As soon as they dealt with the thugs, leaving them knocked out by the road and with a bunch of them running back to the treeline to lick at their wounds, the mages looked around, assessing the scene.

"Ah, where's Natsu?" Lucy asked suddenly.

"He went to the forest." Erza supplied.

"I'll go check on him. You stay here and protect Mistress Gracieters. We won't take long." The ice mage headed towards the forest in long strides.

The forest always had the strange quality of creating an otherworldly feeling to Gray. It was different from the world outside, be it with light, scent or sound.

The ice mage decided not to call out for his friend as he didn't know if he might have been caught (which Gray doubted) or if he was going to be ambushed.

There was a too loud crackle and a rough voice barking some indistinct words. It wasn't the well-known voice of the fire mage but it might indicate that he was nearby.

Heading towards the voice, Gray kept hidden by the trees and what he saw made him run towards the two men. Natsu was slumped against the tree and a man was towering over him, his back filled with scratches that were slowly oozing blood.

The ice mage ran towards them and shot an ice spear that glued the man to the bark of a tree where he was unconscious.

Gray knelt beside the fire mage, his heart beating fast as the other mage remained unmoving. It was with great care that the dark haired mage turned his friend to his back. Natsu didn't seem to be _breathing_. That made Gray to go into full-alert. Gray started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and, thankfully, it didn't take long until Natsu was reacting, breathing back.

"Come on, you asshole, wake the fuck up!"

The fire mage woke up quite disoriented and mumbling something.

"You're finally awake, you fucking asshole!" Gray let out, feeling very relieved but at the same time being pissed. He was glaring at the fire mage and trying not to throttle him.


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N:** Aaaand, here's the belated chapter. Whew, I don't even. I'm so behind on my writing schedule that you can't imagine. OTL

Anyway, I think that it is now understandably what's going on with Natsu. Kind of. And then there's another thing that happened and it wasn't exactly planned to happen in such a way and I don't have a clue about what I'm going to do. *sighs* (Oh yeah, and let's not talk about the fights that were supposed to happen. Things weren't coming and I have a schedule so, I cheated... Sorry about that. Then again, feel thankful for not having to read my crappy fight scenes. xD)

Okay, this chapter doesn't feel all that good and everything's OoC and it's just a mess. OTL

Beware the unbetaedness!

Feedback would be, as usual, awesome. ^^

* * *

"What did you do?" Natsu all but squeaked, slapping a hand over his mouth at the same time that he glared at Gray.

"What did _I_ do? No, you're going to tell me what the fuck did _you_ do!" Gray yelled back. "I come here and find you unconscious and right about to be attacked. What the fuck happened?"

"Hey, I'd taken care of the attacker but-" Natsu was starting, slowly sitting up, but he was cut by Gray's terse voice.

"You didn't take care of the attacker. He was just standing and about to do something. You shitty fire mage, you were careless! Just because you're all high and mighty sometimes it doesn't mean that…" Gray's tirade was now interrupted by one of Natsu's hands clapping over his mouth.

"Fine. I was careless but I was sure that I'd taken care of him and I was just about to head towards you guys but then…" he paused and looked up, towards the branches from the tree he had his back resting against. The fabric was gone. "… then I kind of passed out, that's it." He ended up with a shrug.

"Passing out…" Gray repeated, disbelief strong in his tone.

"Yes, haven't you heard? Sometimes that happens to people." Natsu studiously looked at the patch of grass that had been suddenly lit by a break in the dimness of the forest.

"To normal people, maybe. But not to you." Gray denied, with a slight shake of his head.

"Hey, are you saying that I'm abnormal?" Natsu asked, voice rising in outrage.

"What if I am?" Gray had a smug expression on his face before it became serious once again. "But now seriously. Was it like what happened in Nekidoris?"

"Neki-?" Natsu started to say before he gulped and looked at his hands. "Yes. Like what happened there." He dared to take a look at the other mage. This was he was able to notice the various expressions that his face took in.

"And the other things that followed." Gray said hesitantly, waiting for a confirmation.

"Yes…" Natsu sighed. "That time and the others."

"And what does that mean? I mean, we can't have you walking around and just fainting like that, right?" Gray sat down, coming from his kneeling position. He ran one hand through his hair before looking at Natsu with a hard stare. "You're a liability like that."

"I'm not! A. Liability." Natsu said stiltedly, clearly enunciating each word with a lot of emphasis. "I just don't know what this is or how it starts. But I think that it might end soon, after all there's only one more mirror and-" he stopped with a gasp, eyes widening as he looked at Gray. "Hm, I didn't say anything."

"You dumbass. You know more than you're letting on. Quickly, tell me what's going on before we go back."

"I don't want to talk more about this." Natsu said as he stood, distractedly brushing away the dirt from his clothes. "So I'm not." He was about to take a step when a strong hand curled around his bicep and threw him against the bark of the tree.

"No, we're nowhere near done here." Gray said forcefully, effectively caging Natsu against the tree with his body, placing his forearms against both sides of the fire mage's head. This position was too close, too compromising, but he didn't care for Gray was now getting a nearness that he hadn't realized before that he needed. "You're going to tell me what happens and then we'll see." Gray's eyes were boring straight into Natsu's. After a pause, to see if the words entered Natsu's thick head, Gray let out a sigh. "You don't have to carry all that burden alone, you know?" And with that the ice mage took half a step back and allowed for distance to be created between the two mages.

"It's no burden." Natsu mumbled.

"Like hell it isn't. I've seen you. I _know_ you, Natsu. And this has been taking a toll in you." One of Gray's hands came to rest against the fire mage's shoulder and squeezed.

"Mmm…" Natsu looked to the side, strangely not being able to look the other in the eye. His right hand started fiddling with the arm band distractedly. But he stilled when Gray's hand curled around his own hand. "Look, I don't know it exactly, okay?"

"Okay…" Gray agreed. "But it would be nice to know what _you_ already _know_ , yeah?"

"The thing is…" Natsu let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I don't know much of anything, alright?" He shook his head and returned to the fiddling. "All I know is that I always find myself before these five mirrors. They're floating in the air. And the place's always different. And then something strange happens and…" Natsu tilted his head back, looking into the greenery of the treetops. "Something there kind of comes to my rescue and… I don't know."

He was looking up so he didn't see Gray's sudden alarmed expression, or the bob of his throat as he gulped down, nor did he see the wide eyes and closing of his hands to form a fist.

"And… huh… is that the only thing?" Gray asked in a strange voice. "Isn't there anything else or…?"

"Well, each mirror has a weird word written in it. But I don't have a clue about their meaning." Natsu let out a sigh. "And now, happy? I told you everything I know. Oh." He raised his left wrist. "But there's also this." He took the fabric away and showed Gray his bracelet. In the meanwhile he took his time to inspect the new word, clearly carved in the metal.

 _wean_

"Words in the mirrors…" Gray repeated, his eyes glued to Natsu's wrist, to the bracelet, and then he raised his hands, slowly, and caught the wrist to bring it to a better position for him to inspect it. His eyes were wide and his movements were reverent.

"Hey, do you know what this is?" Natsu asked suspiciously.

"Me? No. I was just thinking that maybe things are connected?" Gray said quickly, letting go of Natsu's wrist and averting his eyes. "Does anything else happen?"

"No." was the fire mage's sharp reply. He squinted at the ice mage, still unsure.

"So, you probably pass out, being triggered by something, to go to that place. Maybe it's to… no, I don't have a clue." Gray said despairingly.

"Alright, so now you know everything." Natsu shrugged, and gave a soft push to Gray. "How's this going to help us?"

"But you mean that every mirror has a word written, right?" Gray let himself be pushed but he placed his hands on his hips and kicked at the dirt, a small cloud rising by his side. The ice mage looked distractedly at it.

"No. four of the mirrors have words. The last one's still missing it." Natsu said matter-of-factly.

"So…" Gray raised his eyes towards Natsu. "That means that you're still going to have to pass through one of those things?"

"Most likely, yeah." The fire mage made a vague gesture with his hand.

"And what are you going to do?"

"Heck if I know." Natsu let out a laugh. "I'll see it when I'll get there. Now, let's go meet the girls, they must be worried, with the time we spent here in chitchat."

"Fine." Gray relented. "But we still have a few things to talk about…" Gray promised.

"Whatever." Natsu turned and headed towards the path, where their friends awaited them. "Ah, and so what happened while, yeah?"

"Oh, we were attacked by a group of ragtag people. They were many but we took good care of them." Gray replied, now walking beside Natsu. Then he looked down and realized that his shirt was missing. "What the-!" he turned around and saw it lying beside the tree. "When did that happen?"

"You're still an exhibitionist…" Natsu teased.

"Oh shut up." The ice mage grumbled as he put the shirt back on.

The pair didn't take long to return to the road and the group. The sun was shining brightly and for a few moments the light hurt their eyes, which had been adjusted to the dimness of the forest.

"Took you long enough." Erza said.

"Haha, sorry. Got distracted." Natsu said with a nervous laugh, his hand coming to scratch at the back of his head.

"Alright. Now let's continue." Erza replied, nodding to Lucy who was back to talking with Mistress Gracieters.

And so, they resumed their task, walking towards Filoris. This time around the air was less awkward, the girls noticed, as Natsu and Gray were walking side by side. Close, in fact, as they brought up the rear.

"Do you know something?" Natsu asked after a long while. They were walking under the too warm sun but the breeze refreshed them.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Gray asked, taken aback over the non sequitur.

"About my bracelet." Natsu raised his wrist. "You acted weirdly when you saw it." The fire mage concluded with an arched eyebrow.

"No, I did not." Gray denied.

"Did too." Was the sing-song reply.

"Not."

"Did too…"

"You dumbass, just because not everyone is like you, like an olifante in a china shop, it doesn't mean that-" he snapped, but stilled when Erza threw a look at them. "It wasn't nothing much, I promise."

"Hm, if you say so. But you'll have to tell me if you know anything." He pointed a finger right at Gray's side and poked.

"I'm more worried about what might happen next time. There's still one more mirror, according to you." Gray answered gravely.

"Awww, didn't know you cared so much…" Natsu said in a teasing voice, while curling his arms around one of Gray's and pretending to lay his head over the other's shoulder. He even entwined his fingers with Gray's.

"And what if I do?" Gray finally said, their pace being much slower from the girls'.

"Huh?" Natsu replied confusedly.

"What if I care for you more than you think?" the question was asked in a forced neutral tone.

"Wha-!" Natsu's jaw fell open and he stilled, arms going lax and releasing Gray from his mock prison, the ice mage pausing a couple of steps ahead of him. When Gray turned to look at Natsu, his eyes held a strange determination. "Will you stop with the jokes now? That was a bit too much."

"It was no joke. But… this isn't the right place to be talking about this." Gray turned and left Natsu, who was still floored on the same spot.

"Okay, no, this is getting to be too much. What the hell is going on?" the fire mage muttered to himself, his right hand catching a handful of his pink hair while his other hand covered his mouth, covered his disbelief. Then he caught himself. The mission hadn't ended yet. He had to get a grip over himself.

The fire mage hurried after his friend, quickly catching up with them.

But now he let the distance between himself and Gray return…

* * *

The sun was starting its trek towards the horizon when they reached Filoris and the opulent mansion. It was really quite big, and as the doors opened, a maid came to greet them.

"And so, here we are." Mistress Gracieters said, handing out her travelling coat to the maid. "Come inside, I'll have the kitchen bring us some food before you have to go back." She said with a smile. "Do come in."

The team was herded inside, led through the lavish environment to a large drawing room. Rich reds, golds and dark browns met them, before they sat on the sofas by the unlit fireplace.

Lucy and Erza sat on the two-seat sofa and Mistress Gracieters sat on the armchair that faced the fireplace. Natsu and Gray relocated to the armchairs that were placed on the other side of the coffee table. Small talk started flowing, relaxed, though the underlying tension between Natsu and Gray was still quite present.

As trays with food and drink started to come, they started eating.

"I would invite you to stay here for the night but I can imagine how you're busy." The older lady was saying as she filled delicate teacups with steaming tea.

"Ah, sadly we need to return." Lucy said as she picked a cookie that was round-shaped and covered in powdery sugar.

"But I won't let you go before seeing my library, as I'd mentioned before." Gracieters said and received agreeing nods by the blonde and red-haired mages.

"Of course. You made me curious about the swords you mentioned." Erza added, as she raised her own teacup to drink from.

"Why, yes. I do have a few things that might interest you girls." Gracieters smiled before continuing to eat elegantly.

Natsu wasn't eating as elegantly, albeit being behaving as it was fit for such a lavish place as they were in. the fire mage couldn't help but thank Igneel for his lessons and the strictness his father had sometimes bestowed upon him. Natsu knew manners, and quite graciously, just… if he was in a comfortable environment he preferred to just shovel food into his mouth. He was pretty simple like that…

Besides, food was fuel. And Natsu needed quite a bit of fuel. Though every now and then a fiery snack would come in handy…

So, Natsu ate. And drank tea and when he got bored with it, he drank juice. The cold meats and bread were delicious, as were the butter and jams. The dry biscuits and fluffy cakes, as well as the ones with filling, were also a good way to ignore the ice mage that was on his side. Besides, if Natsu was preoccupied with food, he wouldn't be thinking about the strange event from earlier.

'Gray likes me…' the thought hit him again, making the fire mage pause, despite having a bit of bread with buttery cheese halfway to his mouth. When he caught himself, Natsu promptly finished the path, starting to chew, thoughtfully. 'Isn't that a riot? The dumb ice mage…' Natsu continued chewing. 'But, how? And, what do I say to this?' he swallowed and nearly choked but was quick to wash it up with some juice. 'Do I need to say something to this? In fact, what do I think about all of this?' Natsu placed the glass on the tray with a little more force than necessary, making the others look briefly at him. Well, the others except Gray. The ice mage kept eating his food as if nothing had happened.

'And why the hell did he have to tell me that?' Natsu glared at Gray.

"Come with me, then." The voice of Mistress Gracieters sliced through Natsu's musings. The fire mage blinked and turned his attention to her and the girls. Their interlocutor was rising from her chair and the girls were following her clue. "I'll take you to my library." Then she looked at the boys. "You boys are free to continue eating, if you please. Of you can head to the gardens, if you feel the need to have some fresh air." She waved towards the glass door that led to a stairway in pristine white marble.

And after that, Natsu and Gray were left in the room, eating and with an uncomfortable silence hanging over them.

After a while, Gray spoke.

"You're going to start acting like this, huh?" Gray said in a neutral tone of voice.

"Hm?" Natsu finished chewing his current mouthful before looking at Gray. "Act like what?" he asked, pretending not to be slightly uneasy.

"That's why I thought about not saying anything. You're too much of a kid." Gray ended his tirade with a heavy sigh.

"I'm not a kid!" Natsu snapped. "You just caught me unawares."

"Oh?" Gray leaned against the side of the armrest, placing an elbow it the armrest and his chin in his opened palm. He looked attentively at Natsu. "And what do you say, then?"

"Ab-about _that_?" Natsu was blushing and stuttering, eyes averting the ones of the ice mage and starting to fidget slightly. "I… I don't say anything! I never thought exactly about those things and… this isn't the place to talk about these things. What if the girls come back-!"

"I never knew that you could get so flustered." Gray teased, voice dripping with amusement.

"Shut up!"

"You have a point. This isn't the place. But I would like to talk to you about some things. And about your _problem_. I think that…"

"Do you have any clue? Can that be?" Natsu's eyes were widened and he'd jumped from his chair, standing right in front of Gray.

"What?" Gray startled, looking upwards to his friend. "Huh… no… I don't think I have." He let his head tilt slightly forward.

"Bummer." Natsu pouted, the edge of urgency that had been animating his countenance bleeding out into a sadder, lost one. He grasped his wrist and picked unconsciously at the black fabric. Then he headed to the window, to observe the new carved word a little better.

"Sorry." Gray let out, standing and walking to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Natsu. He also looked at the bracelet. "You really don't know what that is, do you?"

"No. it's… something from the past?" Natsu said tentatively. "I don't know who gave me this."

"No? Wasn't it your mother, or something?" Gray tilted his head slightly to the side.

Natsu tensed.

"No. wouldn't say it was." He finally said, a strange look settling over his face.

"Come on. Let's see if you can eat some more before we go. You're happier when you have your belly full." Gray clapped Natsu on the shoulder and, just like that, lifted the morose air that was about to settle over them.

"You know me too well." Natsu snorted and headed back to the food. He was back to his carefree mood.

* * *

The girls returned a while later and found Natsu and Gray laughing and in a mock fight over who could bunch more cookies inside their mouth.

Natsu won – by a small margin, Gray couldn't help but state – and nearly choked on the cookies.

The girls looked at Mistress Gracieters, mortified, but their host took the boys' antics in stride and started laughing. The girls heaved out a sigh of relief but exchanged a look that meant that they would be getting an earful on the way back home.

"At least they seem to have settled whatever they had to." Erza huffed.

"Yes, their moping around was getting to be too much." Lucy agreed. "It was like pining…" she rolled her eyes.

"You don't say…" Erza said in a disbelieving tone.

"Let's hope so. Those two blockheads haven't realized yet…" Lucy shrugged, looking at Gray helping Natsu chug down a glass of juice.

"They haven't realized their attraction. Yet. But I seem to think that they've been getting closer as of late, didn't you?" Erza threw a glance at Mistress Gracieters patting a hacking Natsu on the back while Gray laughed.

"Hmm, they were. And Gray was strangely protective the other day. With all those glances and stuff." Lucy coughed into her hand. "And the play…"

"I knew that you weren't as tipsy as you seemed." Erza giggled.

"Neither were you. But did you see their faces? Priceless."

"Well, let's go get those silly boys. We need to go back home." Erza said finally.

"Yep. Time to go back."

And so, soon enough, the team was heading back towards Magnolia, their pockets slightly heavier with jewels and with a bag filled with food.

* * *

A few days had passed since they'd returned to Magnolia and now they had a new mission. This one was in the outskirts of the town itself. They had to retrieve the Cistercense dagger that was in the possession of a band of thieves.

According to the pamphlet, the thieves had their lair in an abandoned mansion that was near the forest and that, it was said, had a secret tunnel that led there and into a cave that was filled with the loot.

"Okay. What's the plan?" Lucy asked.

"We enter and tear everything down until we have the dagger. Then we'll go back home." Natsu summarized.

"I don't think that making noise and destroying things in your favoured way is the best plan…" Erza said drily.

"Yeah, imagine that you're in the tunnel. You take down one of the important beams and you end up buried in there." Gray snickered.

"Ah, I don't see you giving ideas." Natsu pouted a little.

"Well, we do need to take care of the thieves, at least leave them in a way that they may be handled later." Erza added.

"Fine. Let's enter, kick some butt, subdue the thieves and grab the dagger." Natsu rephrased.

"Yes, because it's going to go that smoothly…" Lucy rolled her eyes. "You're being too simplistic."

"What can I say? I feel like fighting today." Natsu shrugged a little.

"Anyway." Erza brought the conversation back on track. "We should infiltrate the mansion and locate the dagger. I guess that along the way we'll make a lot of noise but the main goal is that dagger. Mister Keita wants it and we'll give it back."

"Fine for me." Gray muttered.

"Let's go, then." Natsu cracked his knuckles.

"Natsu, please, don't get too over the top, okay?" Lucy asked, knowing full well that her words would go by Natsu like a breeze.

"Yeah, yeah." The fire mage said distractedly.

"Let's move out, then." Erza finally said.

* * *

"So this is the place where the thieves put their treasures." Natsu said as he looked around. Lucy walking behind him.

"Yeah. Sure looks like it." She confirmed, also eyeing the mounds of gold, jewels and all kinds of assorted precious things.

"Maybe it's in the place that holds the weapons?" Natsu hazarded, starting to walk towards the pile of swords, daggers, spears, shields and the such.

"Huh, don't you think that we should wait for the others? Gray and Erza were right behind us…" Lucy said, looking back to the mouth of the cave. The flickering light of the torches stuck against the walls made shadows start to dance.

"Heh, they were just finishing cleaning the house." Natsu muttered as he looked at the swords with a pensive expression. "They'll be here in no time."

As if summoned by the fire mage, noise came from the mouth of the cave and, lo and behold, Gray entered.

"Ah, you're already here." He said, walking towards his friends.

"Of course, who do you take us for?" Natsu shot back.

"You're a huge slowpoke." Gray snorted. "And so, did you find it already?"

"Nope. I don't have a clue about how the dagger is." Natsu shook his head.

"Seriously?" Lucy asked, astounded. "But Erza told us… ah, never mind." She massaged the bridge of her nose. "And speaking of Erza, wasn't she with you?"

"She was. But then she told me to come ahead and give you guys a hand. She can handle these thieves."

"Oh, it's super easy for her. I was expecting them to be stronger…" Natsu mused. Then he kicked the coins underfoot, listening to them jingling while falling over the other coins.

"Makes our work easier." Lucy deadpanned. "Now. The dagger we want is… it's around this size," she extended her arm and placed one hand on the crease of her elbow, indicating that it would be around the length of her forearm and hand. "The sheath should be white and blue, with silvery applications. The hilt's also in silver but it's quite noticeable because of the intricate workings and the golden… I don't know the name… but basically, at the end there's a red jewel encased in that golden thing that's at the bottom of the hilt. Eek, weapons. Erza would probably know the name for that." The stuck out her tongue and scratched her cheek.

"Oh, do you mean, like that one?" Gray pointed out at something that was under one of the piles of weapons.

They dug in, cautiously working to remove it from the pile. But, it wasn't. The sheath was made of wood instead of metal.

"Maybe it's that one over there." Lucy said, pointing at another pile. They, once again, dug in. to have another fluke.

"Maybe we should scatter these things to be able to have a general look?" Natsu mused. His suggestion was met with appreciative nods.

"Yes, maybe that would work." Lucy conceded.

"You do have a brain up there, do you?" Gray teased.

"Start digging, ice breath." Natsu said, without any heat in his voice, flicking one coin at the other.

"You should too, flame-boy."

"Boys… more work, less flirting." Lucy said with a roll of her eyes.

"What!" Both youths said in outrage.

"We're not flirting!" Natsu sputtered.

"No, we're not! Where did you get that idea?" Gray added.

"More work, less talk." Lucy repeated, placing her hands on her hips. It was with a smile that she saw her friends grumbling but doing what she'd told them to do.

After a while, the cavern was filled with the metallic noise of the swords clinking against each other and a few imprecations, another exultant yell cut the silence.

"It's got to be this one!" Natsu said as he held the dagger high.

"Let's see." Lucy was gesticulating for the fire mage to hand it over. As soon as he did, the blonde mage started analysing the dagger, muttering to herself.

Natsu started humming and walking around the large area, his eye was caught by some dull-grey trinkets and he suddenly felt a zing run through his side before his breath caught.

His foot slipped and Natsu found himself falling.

And that was all he knew because before he noticed, everything had become black.

* * *

Natsu knew that he'd opened his eyes yet, he couldn't see anything.

No. he could see. But at the same time, he couldn't.

On the one hand he saw light but he didn't have a clear sight, it felt as if someone had stretched a gossamer film in front of his eyes. Natsu realized that he was in that strange place, the plane with the floating mirrors. Would it be the turn for the last word to appear?

But.

There was a heavy weight in his belly, he wasn't overly happy about not being able to see.

Sure, his other senses were working doubly and assured him that there was no-one else in that place, with him. But Natsu wanted to see. He turned his head from side to side and was able to discern a different kind of light.

There were colours.

But the strongest colour that reached him was blue. Right at the centre of the colours, there was the blue.

Natsu realized that, slowly, he had headed towards the mirrors.

Then, as he stood and faced the mirrors, pain reached him. The first wave was so unexpected and strong that Natsu fell to his knees, hands rising to his face and starting to scrabble at his eyes. An intense burn – which was _not_ of the kind he was used to – pierced his eyes, almost as if acid was being poured over them. The noise that escaped him was like nothing he'd ever let out but Natsu didn't hear, he curled upon himself and tried to make the pain stop.

Then he heard the noise of glass shattering and, with the little awareness that he still possessed, he wondered about how the protective chains might act.

He needn't worry because on the next moment, two zings of overwhelmingly hot pain ran up his legs, torso, neck and cheeks, ripping the film that had been covering his eyes and taking that pain away. A gasp escaped his throat and Natsu fell back down onto the ground, laying on his back.

His eyesight seemed to be slightly fuzzy at first but it adjusted and Natsu let out a sigh. His muscles relaxed and he for a few moments was so boneless with relief that he didn't move a finger. After gathering back his strength, Natsu moved to stand, slowly.

As expected, the mirror in the middle was glowing with a bright blue glow. The shards of the mirror were scattered on the outer sides of the chains that were now retreating back to the frame of the mirror, the scorching heat was now like a soft, warm caress on his skin.

And there was a new word hovering in the emptiness.

 _pari_

"You're the last one, huh?" Natsu asked it. Of course that he didn't have an answer but, he did expect that. Natsu blinked a couple of times and felt around his eyes with the tips of his fingers. Then he let go.

Natsu took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Then he walked towards the mirrors. They were hovering above what looked like a stream of black water. The shore was comprised of bright blue rocks and pink bushes sprouted here and there. Natsu extended his hand towards the blue mirror, as it was in front of him, and then, the chain to Natsu's left-hand side lashed out. It hurtled towards Natsu's small pouch and curled around the disc that Natsu still carried with him. Before the fire mage's eyes, the disc was absorbed by the dark void of the mirror and then everything started trembling. The void that had been, so far, held within the frames of the mirrors started bleeding out and slowly consuming everything. The words that had been floating inside, slipped down and fused into one, creating a copy of what looked to be Natsu's bracelet which started spinning and spinning on the ground. And then the darkness started to go towards it, a small pocket of light that spun really fast.

And before he could do anything, Natsu was being dragged towards it. Natsu fell, felt the darkness slip against his skin, uncomfortable, stuffy, cold, before he fell into the bright white.

* * *

Natsu came to in a slightly uncomfortable position.

To be fair, it was the legs that seemed to be twisted strangely (or was it his torso?) and laying on something hard where his upper body was cushioned against something slightly more comfortable.

Natsu blinked and went to run a hand through his face but found that he couldn't. And the reason was because he was being held by Gray, had one of his arms squashed between them while his free hand was being held by the frantic ice mage. And then there was a noise, it was quite fast but the steadiness in it was also comforting for the fire mage. And then it hit Natsu. His hand was being held by Gray and he was laying on top of him.

Natsu nearly shot out from the other's embrace but Gray was expecting it and let him go, even if he steadied him.

Natsu looked around. The thieves' lair, the room with the loot, the dagger. Lucy was holding it but she was looking anxious and hovering just beside Gray. And Gray. The ice mage was sitting on the ground – or whatever surface it was – and looking with a strange expression at the fire mage.

"What!" Natsu finally said, defensive.

"Nothing. Are you feeling better?" Gray asked.

"Feeling better?" Lucy nearly yelled. "He just fell for no reason and passed out and you're asking him if he's feeling better?"

Gray stood and raised one hand at Lucy to make her stop.

"So? How are you feeling?" he repeated.

"I'm… fine." Natsu brushed the concern off. "I slipped and hit my head?" he said tentatively at Lucy. Though the celestial mage didn't buy it.

"No. you didn't. What happened? Are you alright?" she asked once more before they heard steps coming from the mouth of the cavern. They turned towards it, not knowing if it would be friend or foe coming to meet them.

It was Erza.

"Lucy. Don't say anything, okay?" Natsu asked his friend in a low voice. The blonde mage was about to open her mouth to disagree but, seeing the seriousness coming off the fire mage in waves, she relented.

"Fine. But you're going to have to tell us about what happened." She threatened before heading to meet their friend.

"Was it another one?" Gray asked, grasping Natsu's left wrist and running one finger distractedly over the fabric. He was looking at Natsu with an intense expression.

"Yeah, it was. But I guess that it was the last one." Natsu started to say before he caught himself. "Wait! The disc!" he freed his hand from Gray's and started rummaging for his disc. But it wasn't there anymore. "It's gone!"

"What's gone?" Gray asked in an odd tone.

"The disc. I…"

"What's the word?" Gray asked abruptly.

"The word?" Natsu took a glance at the girls before slipping back the arm guard and showing Gray the last of the discs. The polished surface now had the clear carving of a new word.

 _pari_

"Now the question is, what the hell is this. And where's my disc." The fire mage said before composing himself, right on time, seeing as the girls got to them.

"I see that our mission was a success." Erza started saying, looking from Natsu to Gray. "It's probably time to head back."

"I agree. We need to return this thing to its rightful owner." Lucy chimed in.

"Yep." Gray nodded.

"Okay, then. Let's go back to the guild!" Natsu said with a big grin.


	9. Chapter Eight

A/N: Whew, it was hard to write this chapter. And it didn't exactly help that I was quite busy during the weekend. But, here it is. I'm kind of starting to mash bits of the plot into chapters but this, along with some oneshots I've written, has allowed me to reach the 50k already! I'm quite happy about that. As for this story, let's see where it goes. It's getting a bit out of hand but I'm kind of doing my best to evade the fight scenes... OTL

Unbetaed - I only took a quick read before posting...

Feedback's always appreciated. ^^

* * *

The team reached Magnolia as the inky darkness of the sky deepened and allowed for the stars to twinkle. The moon was just a sliver, a pale orange one, of the waning moon was rising in the horizon.

The friends decided to head to the guild to have dinner and take a rest before getting their well-deserved sleep. The return to the centre of Magnolia had gone without a hitch but it didn't mean that they weren't tired. Even so, the conversation allowed them to keep the mood lively and light, which would always help ease the fatigue that pulled stronger at their limbs the closer they got to the town.

"We can always count on having food at the guild." Natsu was saying as he patted his stomach, an unsuccessful distraction in regards to the rumbling noises it was starting to do.

"Thank the gods for that." Lucy quipped, eyeing the fire mage in mock-fright. "I wouldn't want to be near you whenever that beast you have there went unleashed."

"What?" Natsu exaggerated his confusion.

"No wonder you eat like a bottomless pit. You have a creature inside and it eats all the food." Gray chimed in.

Natsu rolled his eyes.

"At least we might have a few days to rest now. The owners of the dagger are going to pay us well and I really could take a shower." Erza was saying, her posture stiffly straight to counteract her tiredness.

"To me it's food." Natsu said.

"To you it's always food." Gray retorted.

"You boys aren't going to start flirting again, are you?" Lucy asked, her tone filled with suspicion.

"No!" The boys yelled in unison.

"Saying things at the same time… you've been training." Erza drawled.

The rest of the walk back to the guild was too noisy with the girls teasing the boys while they denied and blushed.

When they entered the guild, it was to find it in full blast, conversations, songs, fights, food, everything was happening in the rowdy environment that they so loved.

They headed to one table and Mirajane went to them.

"Welcome back!" She was smiling brightly as she placed some dishes and cups on the table. She danced away and returned with silverware and napkins. "I'll bring you guys some food right away. Ah, Gray, you have a letter." And she placed the letter in front of the ice mage. "Be right back!" She said before disappearing among the other guild members.

"A letter for you?" Lucy asked.

"Isn't that weird?" Natsu commented. "Gray doesn't usually receive mail."

"It doesn't have anything to do with us so, let us allow Gray to read it alone." Erza said in a conciliatory tone.

The ice mage was unaware of the conversation that was going around him. He was too focused on the pieces of paper he was holding. For one moment, Gray noticed that it was trembling slightly and so he made himself still. At long last, the dark haired mage chided himself mentally and flipped the envelope around and opened it.

His eyes quickly scanned the contents of the letter, the perfect penmanship making things all that much real.

When he reached the bottom, the flourish at the end didn't sign as a name but Gray could recognize it, from before, from a long time ago.

"A new mission?" asked the others.

"Yeah…" Gray answered, reading the letter once again, too old thoughts running through his mind. Old and dark, sad and vivid. Regretful.

Food started to reach the table, and the other mages started putting it on their own plates, started to eat, but Gray remained as if frozen, too deep into thought.

He was thinking of a certain night, many years ago, that had changed everything. Order had turned to chaos. Family was torn apart. The feeling of being safe and warm was replaced by a gelid loneliness that had only been somewhat thawed when he reached the guild.

Old times.

Before the darkness.

* * *

 _Gray let out a large yawn. He had just come from some boring lessons before having a little time with his family. Lyon had gone ahead and he'd been teasing and being the mean older brother he usually was. Gray grumbled slightly as he tightened his grip on the book._

 _"_ _What do I need history for, anyway? If I'm to be there as a guard there's no need for these boring things…" he muttered and looked out the window, considering throwing the large tome out._

 _"_ _Those things are necessary because one should always know about the history of their people." Came a familiar voice from behind him, startling Gray from his musings._

 _"_ _Ah!" The young boy startled and turned around. A fearful expression that was promptly replaced by elation. "Ur!" Gray all but yelled as he ran towards her, tossing the book to the ground._

 _The older mage let out a laugh and easily picked up the boy. She hugged him._

 _"_ _I'm back." She said with a smile._

 _"_ _You are! You're finally home!" Gray lessened his tight grip around her shoulders, leaning back to look at her. "How did it go?"_

 _"_ _Everything went well, thanks for asking. And how about here," Ur crouched and made Gray let go of her, standing once again. "How did things go? How were your lessons?"_

 _"_ _Aw, the history and similar are boring, as usual." Gray pouted a little bit, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "But the magic ones went well. Master Lidos helped me but he's not a good teacher like you."  
"Ahahah, I should tell him that you prefer my lessons to his." She picked up the book, brushed it up, straightened the pages inside and then handed it out to Gray._

 _"_ _No! He won't speak to me again if you do." Gray stomped his foot._

 _"_ _Well then, it's going to have to be our secret. And how about Ultear and Lyon?" Ur straightened up and extended a hand for Gray to take._

 _"_ _Ultear was okay, I guess. She taught me one trick for the- ack!" the ice mage choked. "I mean, we were getting along. But now, if only Lyon wasn't so mean, things might be better. Why do I have to have all these classes?" he finally asked, they were walking hand in hand through the corridor that led to their lodgings._

 _"_ _It's going to be needed for you, for later. You're getting ready to guard a very important person. In a few years I want Lyon to take up my place at the Guard and I know that Ultear is being very successful with the old magic, so she might pursue her dreams In that line of work."_

 _"_ _How important?" Gray asked curiously._

 _"_ _A very, very important person." She repeated, ruffling the small mage's hair. They paused as they'd just reached the lodgings. The two mages paused for a beat and then the older one started peeking in. "Is anyone home?" she asked happily._

 _"_ _Ur!" Lyon yelled, rushing towards the door, throwing himself at Ur, hitting her on her side._

 _"_ _Hello, hello. How have you been?" she asked and Lyon muttered a small "okay"._

 _"_ _Welcome back, mother." Ultear also said, coming from her other side to grab her mother's bag. "Did everything go well?"_

 _"_ _Everything was perfect. No threat was found."_

 _"_ _Ah, good. I had just set the table… we were just about to start having dinner. I'll put another dish on the table." The young mage said as she turned around and headed to the table._

 _"_ _Thanks." The older mage said. "And now, are you boys ready to eat? Did you clean up already?"_

 _"_ _Going!" said the two boys._

 _"_ _Ah, some things never change…" Ur said as she started to remove the outer parts of her armour._

 _"_ _That's true, mother." Came the fond reply._

 _Soon after, Gray and Lyon returned and the small family started having their meal._

 _Night had just fallen, there were still some light purple wisps in the sky, when the alarm started sounding._

 _Ur stood up from her chair, letting the silverware clatter onto the ground before she started putting her armour once again, movements fast and precise._

 _"_ _What's this?" Ultear asked, a worried expression on her face._

 _"_ _I don't know. But I'm going to check. I'll send someone here soon." She said, striding to the door. There, she paused and turned to her family. "I'll see you soon."_

 _And with that, she walked out the door._

 _"_ _What can this be?" Gray asked in a slightly tremulous voice._

 _"_ _Don't worry. Ur is going to take care of this. That's why she's the Captain of the guard. Of course that she's going to set things straight."_

 _"_ _Let's hope so…" Ultear came from the window. She'd been seeing the flickering lights of torches and then the colourful burst of light that indicated magic and she didn't have a good feeling._

 _"_ _Why do you-?" Gray was about to ask when the door opened with a bang._

 _"_ _You're here." Lidos said as he swept into the room. His short brown hair plastered to his face. "We have to go. Now."_

 _"_ _Now?" the three youths said in unison._

 _"_ _Yes. Your mother told you about procedure jota, right?" he asked, keeping a tight rein over his voice._

 _"_ _Wha- yes." Ultear replied before turning and placing her things in a bag. The boys had also hurried to prepare their bags._

 _"_ _Okay. We have to go now." Lidos tried to make them move faster._

 _The three youths exchanged a shocked look._

 _"_ _And what about the royal-?" Ultear asked, the sharpness of her voice masking her worry._

 _"_ _They're being dealt with. Now, the rebels are attacking the castle and so we're going to split you up, according to the procedure." He placed a hand on Gray's shoulder and started taking the ice mage, not letting him turn to as much as wave at his family._

 _There was a loud crash and Gray managed to catch a glimpse through one of the windows and what he saw nearly had him freezing on the spot – though the hand that was curled around his shoulder was grounding and dragging him._

 _Outside there was a huge monster, its dark skin and immense body were coupled with bloody red eyes that scared Gray immensely._

 _"_ _I can't believe that they unleashed the Demon of Destruction." Gray managed to hear Lidos say, though the growing noise made it hard to hear._

 _"_ _What's that?" he asked innocently._

 _Lidos looked down at him and there was fear in his eyes. Gray frowned because he had never seen the man act like that._

 _"_ _Probably our doom."_

 _All of a sudden, there was a flash of light, it was so overwhelming that Gray saw black spots after. He looked up at Lidos and was just about to ask about what had happened when a lance of cold, as swift and thin, sliced through him. His breath caught on his throat and Gray felt as if the tips of his fingers had become numb, just like they'd been when he had started learning from Ur. He looked up at Lidos, confusion in his expression, to see the older man crying._

 _"_ _Why did you have to resort to that, oh, Captain?" the man said as he covered his eyes with a trembling gloved hand._

 _"_ _Ur? What happened to Ur?" Gray asked, the fear that had been barely contained was now beginning to overflow._

 _"_ _Ur, my boy… she died."_

 _"_ _Wha- no!" Gray dropped his bag and tried to dislodge the hand that was now holding him. He wanted to go back, see that it wasn't true. It couldn't be true._

 _"_ _There's nothing you can do now, Gray!" the young ice mage heard the bellowed words as if they were being said from very far away but he didn't pay them any mind. He just wanted to run to where Ur was. Make sense of what was happening. But strong hands curled around his chest, effectively impeaching him._

 _Before he was able to comprehend it, they were inside the wall, in one of the secret tunnels that only a handful of people knew. They met with Xavo, the man nodding gravely in their direction as he went the way they'd just come._

 _"_ _Safe and out." Were the only words that he said._

 _Lidos let out a heavy sigh. "For Draconia, my friend." He said before the other left their field of vision._

 _"_ _Huh?" Gray asked, confused at the exchange._

 _"_ _It means that the family has left, been taken to someplace safe. And that's just what we're going to do with you, my boy."_

 _"_ _But… what about Lyon? And Ultear?" Gray asked, worryingly. "And…" his voice broke slightly, "what about Ur?"_

 _"_ _You're all going different paths now, Gray." Lidos said as they got to one of the hidden escape exits that lead North. "Now I'll be taking you some of the way but I think that after I'll have to return. My place is here." Lidos ruffled affectionately at the kid's black locks. "And so is yours. Never forget it, Gray. Don't forget about the teachings you got here or your duties. We will, hopefully, manage to keep in touch, okay?"_

 _"_ _Yeah." Gray answered in a subdued voice._

 _"_ _Don't worry, runt. It'll be alright. Promise?" Lidos said in that familiar voice and tone of his. So reminiscent from all those moments before he went and pranked someone._

 _"_ _Promise." Gray said with a half-smile._

 _And then, they heard the noise from the castle grow and their time to chat was up. The pair entered the dark forest and was swallowed by the darkness._

* * *

"Very well." The voice and noise of a cup being placed on the wooden table startled Gray from his thoughts. The ice mage startled slightly and looked at his interlocutor, Erza, who was looking at him with a questioning look. "It's time to know what that mission's all about."

"Out with it!" Natsu said mid-chew.

"Ugh, that's gross, Natsu. Don't speak with your mouth full." Lucy made a disgusted face.

"Fine…" Natsu replied, while still eating, and earned an annoyed twitch from Lucy's eyebrow.

"Settle down, you two." Erza glanced at them before her gaze settled back on Gray. "The mission?"

"It's by a private party." Gray started, eyes scanning the paper once again. "Apparently we're to go save two people – a couple? – from Pedra-Dura."

"Pedra-Dura?" Natsu wondered.

"Yes, silly. It's one of the most important prisons in Draconia. It's situated in the region of Solposto and, from what I read, it's a really bad place." Lucy said in her teaching-mode.

"You know quite a lot, huh?" the fire mage asked with a teasing wink.

"Of course. You would know more too if you picked up a book every now and then." Lucy let out a sharp grin.

"You learned that from Igneel…" Natsu replied with a pout.

"Ahem…" Erza interrupted the pair. "And why would we need to go there? It's a different country." Erza continued to say, distractedly drawing patters on her plate with the rest of sauce that had remained in it.

"They don't explain things very well. But we're given an address and a promise to explain what needs explaining." Gray waved the paper before starting to fold it. "I… I think that I need to go and do this." He said in a serious tone, the graveness of the situation settling on his shoulders.

"Okay. But you don't have to go alone. We're going with you." Erza replied in a conciliatory tone.

"There's no doubt about it." Lucy nodded.

"We're a team, after all." Natsu chimed in, and the look he threw at Gray was laden with meaning.

"Very well, then. There's some urgency in this request so we should head to Draconia as soon as possible. The place in the address is from a small town right on the boarder, Gelida town." Gray announced.

"Then we better head there as soon as possible." Natsu replied.

"But after a good night's sleep." Lucy said with a yawn. "I'm kind of beat."

"These last few days have been quite busy." Erza nodded. "Maybe be here as soon as the sun raises?"

"That's a good plan. Maybe we should get the train. It's still quite far from here to the boarder." Gray slipped the pamphlet into his pants' trouser and leaned back on his chair.

"Eeek. Train…" Natsu started grumbling right away.

"It's the easiest and fastest way to get to the point." Erza said with finality as she started to rise up, placing one hand on the table and letting some of her weight fall on it. "And, with this, I think that I'll be heading home. It's kind of late."

"True." Lucy answered with another yawn.

"Yosh! So I'll see everyone tomorrow. And now, time for me to find Happy." The fire mage just stood and turned on his heel, quickly being engulfed by the crowd.

"We'll also see you tomorrow, Gray. Have a good night." Lucy and Erza said and headed out.

That left the ice mage at the table.

Gray placed one forearm on the table and let his forehead rest against it, letting out a huge sigh.

'And now what?' he wondered. Moments later he was also standing and heading towards his home.

It wasn't going to be a good night, not with the nightmares that he would, undoubtedly, have…

* * *

"I'm feeling siiiiiick…" Natsu whined as he was all but passed out on one of the train's seats.

"Hold on a little longer, we're almost there." Lucy said in a charitable kind of way, patting the fire mage's hand. "I can already see the station from here."

"Can you?" The fire mage asked in a hopeful tone.

"Yes. We're getting out next." Gray commented. He was sitting on the seat on the other side of the aisle, arms crossed before his chest, muscles slightly tensed.

"Hm. You seem to be familiar with this place?" Erza noted.

"Huh." Gray faltered. Then he regained himself and gave a terse nod. "Yeah. I've been here before."

"Oh? And how's it?" Lucy wondered.

"It's… what can I say? A town?" Gray replied in a tone that was slightly sardonic.

"Sheesh. You _are_ in a mood today…" Lucy muttered, leaning forward to pat consolingly at Natsu after the fire mage had let another pitiful noise.

"Am not!" Gray quickly shot back before he frowned and then let out a sigh. "Sorry. I'm just a little moody today."

"Aren't you always?" Natsu managed to grumble from his corner of malaise.

"Shut up, barf breath." Gray said with a roll of his eyes. "I just didn't sleep enough."

"Alright. But now it's not the time for you to be having those silly arguments. We're getting out now. So, get ready." Said Erza.

"Finally…" Natsu said in a tiny voice, so uncharacteristic that it made the other three mages exchange a fond look.

At last, the train stopped and the four mages – with a revived Natsu nearly hopping around, just to show that he was full of energy now that they'd left the train – walked out of the station. Gray took the lead and it didn't take long before the team was leaving the busy station. Near the door, a maroon-haired man on a white, fur-trimmed coat started heading towards them. The team noticed that. The man was of slim build, seeming bulkier because of the coat and taller because of the spiky hair. He had a distinctive feature; a scar over his right eye.

"Fairy Tail, I presume?" he asked them, hands on his pockets.

"Yeah. Who's asking?" Natsu asked, tilting his chin slightly up.

"The person who's supposed to guide you." Was the short retort.

"We don't need anyone." Natsu was starting to say, when Gray got in the way, breaking off the fight that was about to start.

"I don't think that we need a guide…" Gray was starting to say. Then he stopped abruptly when he noticed the silver-gold button, with the dragon drawn in it.

He looked at their interlocutor, took in the smug smile and the button. There was no doubt, it was their sign. "Hm, then again. It's been such a long time since I've last been here that maybe some help might be necessary…"

"Good call." The other said, extending his hand towards Gray. When Gray took it and shook it, he gave a small pull and the ice mage kind of stumbled forward. "Rising sun…" the maroon-headed youth said in a murmur.

"…and dragon." Gray replied in a hushed tone.

They stepped back and let go, Gray turning to his friends to explain the situation. They were, understandably, suspicious of what had just happened.

"Is… everything alright?" Erza finally asked.

"Yeah. This guy here is going to lead us to the person who called for his mission. To the part where we're going to learn better about how things are going to happen." Gray shrugged slightly. "Right?"

"Yup. The old bat gets a bit antsy when things don't go according to plan so she'll be happy to give you all the info and stuff." He turned, hands getting to his pockets. "Come along, now. Time's running out."

"Time?" Lucy asked.

"For what?" Natsu continued her thought.

"I don't know but, either way, it's best if we don't waste more of it." Gray replied.

"And how do we know that we can trust him?" Erza asked suspiciously, an eyebrow arched. "He didn't seem all that trustworthy…"

"Oh, hum, but he is. At least, for now, the plan is getting to wherever and learn more about the mission. Okay?" Gray turned on his heel and was about to follow the other when he was stopped by Erza's words.

"Fine." The red-haired mage said with a sigh. "We trust you. But… don't you think that you should put on, at least, a shirt?"

Gray looked down and both his shirt and coat were gone. The ice mage groaned.

"Yes, and now I need to find both of those things…" he started looking around but stopped when Lucy presented him with the aforementioned items.

"Here. And now, come on, or we'll lose sight of him."

The team finally left the station.

They were led through the busy streets – apparently it was the day of the market – then they started being led down more sinuous, smaller streets. A slightly less cared area.

The guy knocked on the door and a voice came from within, before the door was opened.

"You're finally here, Cobra, you rascal… took you long enough."

"Yeah, yeah, old bat. At least the job is done now." Their guide, Cobra, turned at them before looking back at the old lady who had opened the door. "I'm leaving now. Bye." And with that, he turned around and disappeared down some streets and alleys nearby.

The team stood there, slightly dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.

Their new interlocutor, after having observed as Cobra left, had turned her gaze towards the team.

Gray looked back and measured her. Took in her appearance. For, before them was an old woman, her pink hair was tied up in a bun on the top of her head. Her clothes were rough-looking but, upon a second glance, they were actually of good quality; the grey shirt and darker trousers were obscured by the black cloak she was wearing.

"Ah, so you're finally here. Too you long enough." She said, opening the door wider and motioning at the mages to get inside.

Gray was the first to walk inside and he wasn't sure if those words were meant for the team or if they were specifically for him. There was a lot of ambiguity in them, after all.

"Do sit down, there's no reason for you to be with formalities. I'm Porlyusica and I've called for you to help me." The older woman said as she sat behind a large desk in a large, comfy-looking chair. There seemed to be all sorts of potions and ointments and herbs in the surrounding area, scattered leaves and notebooks also on top of the table. Behind there was a large bookcase, filled to the brim with books.

The team found some seats, Erza sitting right in front of Porlyusica.

"What do you want us to help you with? And…" she glanced at the ice mage before focusing back on the older woman, "how did you know to send the letter to Gray?"

The ice mage gave an internal groan. He'd hoped that the others hadn't noticed that little detail and had hoped that they would overlook the whole thing with the letter – though, of course that it was all for naught.

"We've…" Porlyusica seemed to be measuring her words. "We've been acquaintances for a while. And it's for that reason that I knew that I could trust him for this mission."

"And this mission is?" Natsu asked, leaning forward on his wooden bench.

Porlyusica looked at the fire mage for long moments, deep and hard, almost as if she wanted to read what was going inside the pink-haired mage's mind. Gray noticed how that made the fire mage tense slightly under the scrutiny. And he was about to open his mouth for some retort but then Porlyusica decided to answer.

"Like I said, there are two people who've been wrongly imprisoned in Pedra-Dura. As you might have heard already, it is a rough prison and these people are very important. They're key people in regards to the future of Draconia." She said as she looked at the four mages, taking in their reactions to her words. At the end she was focusing on Gray. The ice mage gulped. He had an idea about who the prisoners might be.

It was not going to be pretty…

"Very well. We'll retrieve those people." Erza nodded.

"But what do we have to do with Draconia?" Lucy enquired, after a moment. "We're from Fiore, it might cause an international incident, no?" she tilted her head to the side while saying the last word,

"No. I don't think it will…" was the dry answer.

"How come? The country has been calm since… I don't know when… so we coming here and meddle won't be good." She continued.

"No, the country hasn't been calm. Even here on the boarder we can see how not calm things are. This country is like a keg of powder. The wick is nearly at the end and it's just about to explode." Porlyusica stood slowly and took off the cloak. "I'm asking for your help to impeach it from exploding." She then turned and picked a bunch of papers that were on top of a blood-red book.

"You only have some ideas about how it might be but here are the plans of Pedra-Dura, one of the outward prisons of King Zeref, one of the toughest prisons, according to the rumours. This map will take you there." She handed the papers to Erza.

"Very well, and who are the individuals you want us to rescue?" the red-haired mage asked.

"The prisoners, as far as I know, have been designated by S. and C." She made a pause and opened a drawer whose contents had, right on top, that same silver-gold dragon that Gray had first seen on Cobra. Only now, it seemed to be painted on a metallic disc. "They've been separated from the common prisoners the whole time, I think they've been put in solitary, with guards by the doors."

Natsu whistled.

"Who are they to need so much security?" the fire mage asked, unaware of the shudder that went down Gray's spine. All of his friends ignored it but Gray locked his stare with Porlyusica's. She knew what he was thinking.

"They're two big liabilities to King Zeref's rule." That earned Porlyusica three looks of confusion.

"How so?" Lucy asked, curious, her whole posture changing with interest.

"Well, it happened some time ago but King Zeref's ascension to power wasn't… a clean one…" she said graciously. "But now I don't think that it's the right time to talk about that."

"When, then?" Lucy persisted.

"When we meet again, I think I'll be allowed to say more." She nodded at Gray, even if it only seemed to be to herself. "But for now, you have enough information and it's best for you to head out." The mages started to rise up and head out when she interjected. "Except you, black haired kid. Stay for a minute."

His friends looking at him, Gray only shrugged and waited.

When the door of the room they were in closed Gray approached the desk.

"So, you've grown quite a bit, runt." Porlyusica commented, a slight smile tilting the corner of her mouth. "What do you think?"

Gray knew that she was speaking slightly cryptically because the others might be listening – especially Natsu. So he let out a sigh.

"It's finally going to happen?" he asked, sitting on the chair previously occupied by Erza, staring seriously at the older woman.

"Oh yes. After so long. It was time too, no?" she ran a hand through her hair, making her bangs fall messily over her eyes.

"Yes. It is the time. The seals are broken." Gray placed one elbow on the table top and sighed. "And how are you going to explain this whole situation?"

"Oh, I don't think that I will. But you'll have to do it." Was the drawled reply. "Besides, I've talked to some of the others and there is support for the next step. And… have you been performing your duty correctly?" she asked in an innocent tone. That irked Gray.

"Hey! Who do you think I am?" Gray mumbled, looking down at the half-scribbled papers that were under his elbow. Even if the letters were upside-down.

"You've learned quite a few things from that mother of yours…" Porlyusica teased.

"What do you-?" he started.

"Shirt…" was the drawled reply. Gray looked down on himself and, sure enough, the shirt was missing.

"Damnit!"

Porlyusica laughed.

"Go look at the floor. It's probably thrown somewhere. You're still the same, huh?" she laughed at the younger's antics.

"You know how some things never change…" Gray replied with a fond, yet sad, smile.

"That, I do, my boy. Now let's go. Your friends are waiting." She stood and rounded the table to place a hand on the ice mage's shoulder. With a squeeze, she headed to the door. "It's time for the third liability to come into play, don't you think?"

"I don't want to think of what's going to happen now." Gray sighed, following the older woman.

"Things will return to their rightful order, of course." Porlyusica said, opening the door. "Now, go and good luck."

"We'll need it." Gray agreed.

* * *

Pedra-Dura was quite an imposing sight.

The large dark-grey walls that rose up to the blue sky making the stronghold be starkly cut against the sky right in the middle of an arid plane. The road was watched from both sides by guards who were constantly on the lookout.

The map had showed the location of the solitary cells and that was where the group of mages had headed to.

The imposing sight didn't mean much when you had Fairy Tail mages going all out.

The guards of the prison, despite having some mages among their ranks, didn't hold a candle against the absolute firepower that the team was. The prisoners stood as if frozen by shock. The majority seemed to be old folks, with defeated countenances and dread and sorrow deep in their eyes.

The team headed to where the solitaries were located, fighting here and there, destroying things sometimes, focused on their goal.

And then they learned what had happened to the pair they were meant to rescue, prisoners S. and C. had been transferred to Celeris, the capital, early in the morning of that same day.

"Damn it. That was close!" Lucy mumbled as she kicked one of the pebbles that came from the rubble of one of the walls that Natsu had punched down.

"That was bad luck." Gray agreed, his lips pulled down in a frown. He didn't like their odds.

"Never took you for superstitious, Gray…" Lucy teased slightly.

"If they were taken, we need to know to specifically to where. And regroup to plan again." Erza concluded.

"In that case, let's get out of here." Lucy said.

The team started heading towards the large hole they'd created on the wall but were stopped by a voice.

"Gray?"

The ice mage stilled and headed towards the place from where the voice seemed to be coming from.

"Yes, that's you, my boy… how you've grown…" a mildly familiar voice said. The ice mage frowned deeply, trying to locate the memory.

"Who are…?" Gray started asking as he opened the door to one small, dimly lit cell. Inside a gaunt man was sitting on the floor. He had a large beard and didn't seem to be able to stand on his feet unaided. Deep gashes crisscrossed over his arms and his nose was deeply crooked, a sign of the number of times it'd been broken already. But the eyes, the expression – they were familiar, even if they came from a fuzzy memory, much serious-looking at the time. "You…" The last word came in a whisper, Gray realizing who it was.

"It's good to see that you still recognized me, boy." The man let out a sharp smile.

"What?" Lucy asked from behind, making Gray come out from the freefall of emotions he was going through.

"Do you know this man, Gray?" Erza asked, mild surprise in her features.

"Y-yeah…" he stuttered. His gaze locked with the other's.

"So, if you know Gray, maybe you'll have some answers for us?" Natsu interjected, shifting their interlocutor's gaze to him.

The man's mouth fell wide open, his eyes widened and he let out a gasp, body automatically struggling to stand.

"You…" he said, raising one hand.

"Yeah, _him_." Gray quickly answered before standing in the line of sight. "But we do need some answers. Do you know what happened to S. and C.? They were imprisoned here with you."

A bitter smile stretched the man's pale and scarred skin taut.

"Yes, they were. And the rest of us couldn't do a thing." He looked at the ground, shame oozing from his posture. "They were taken today."

"Yes, so we've been told." Erza added.

"But I bet that you don't know that they've been _transferred_ to Celeris, to the dungeons of the palace. They're going to stay there until the execution."

"They're going to be executed?!" Gray shouted, followed by a punch on the wall and a series of swears.

"Huh? What's happening?" Lucy asked, cautiously. She nearly gulped at the glare Gray threw at her.

"We need to go back. Porlyusica should be able to give us some info. Fuck." Gray kicked at some rubble.

"That's odd of you to act like that…" Lucy said as she slowly walked towards Gray.

"Yeah, calm down, ice brain." Natsu said lightly. Gray and the prisoner exchanged a look before Gray stared at Natsu, sighing loudly.

"You don't understand. Things just got complicated, okay?" Gray ran a hand through his messy brain. "We better go. I'll explain things, but not here. And…" he talked to the older man, "we can't do anything about your situation now. But I think that soon enough you might be rescued, I think there's a plan for that."

"Don't worry for me and the lads, we can take whatever they throw at us. Besides, you've given them quite a shake. Go, don't forget the main purpose."

Gray nodded and started walking towards the holes they'd made, towards the forest and, towards their true mission.

* * *

"Okay, we're far enough from Pedra-Dura for you to be able to explain to us." Erza said, as they had put quite a few leagues between them and the prison.

"Hm…" Gray replied noncommittally.

"Gray!" Natsu barked. "Answer us."

The ice mage continued to walk but was stopped by Natsu's hand curling tightly around his forearm. He paused and heaved a deep sigh.

"Alright, alright. Thing is, I'm from here." He started.

"I don't see your problem… it's not that strange." Lucy chimed in.

"No, I didn't say that it was a problem. But… I was here before. Before things changed and, I was, actually, there when they did change. I was too little at that time but…"

"What do you mean by change?" Erza asked suddenly.

"The change was when the rebels came and took over the palace, attempted to kill the royal family. Thankfully they were able to escape – and so was I – but since then too much has happened in this country." Gray was extremely tense, he could feel his nails digging into the skin of his palms. He tightened them a little further.

"But you seem to still have connections here…" Erza stated.

"Yes. I had connections due to my family… my… the woman I called mother but to whom I was just an adopted kid… she was the captain of the royal guard." Gray said the whole tirade in one breath, gasping a little at the end, not only feeling winded because of the words he was pushing out but also because of the pain that speaking of Ur brought. He jerked his arm and got free of the fire mage's hold on him. Still, he wasn't facing any of his friends. "She… she was killed when the rebels attacked. But I still get updates on the situation every now and then."

His friends didn't say a word at that. A sort of astounded silence had fallen over them. Gray took his opportunity and kept talking, explaining.

"That's why I know who the S. and C. prisoners are. The king and queen of Draconia were captured after a decade on the run, they'll be executed to show how it's not going to be possible to go back, to the old days."

"Does that mean that…?" Lucy started.

"Yes." Gray turned around and faced his friends, expression grave. "The pair we are to rescue are the queen and king of Draconia."

"Well, shit." Natsu exclaimed.

"You can say that again." Gray said with a sigh, feeling incapable of looking at the fire mage for more than a few seconds, a faraway look momentarily appearing.

"So that's why things were so strange. And the whole secrecy thing…" Erza concluded.

"Yeah, I guess that factions still on the side of the royals are about to go and start on the offence." Gray made a vague gesture with his hand.

"I wonder if there's a date…" Lucy mused. "As in, with any meaning to the rebels?"

"I don't know…" Gray shrugged. "I'm nowhere near up to date with the happenings in Draconia. That's why we'll need to go and see Porlyusica, she'll be able to help us, before we head to Celeris. Come on now." Gray started walking.

"But that doesn't explain the odd behaviour of the people we've met." Natsu said, after a while, his words being said in a wonderingly tone.

"Hm?" Gray asked, glancing again at the fire mage, the indecipherable look flickering over his expression once again.

"Porlyusica. The dude from the prison. They were weird." Natsu shrugged.

Gray stopped walking.

"Girls, can I talk to Natsu for a minute? I have something to tell him." He said with his most serious expression.

"Huh, sure." Erza agreed.

"Go ahead." Lucy said with a shrug. "We'll keep walking for a little more. Don't be late." She added with a giggle.

Gray let out a quick exhale of breath before looking back at Natsu. The fire mage was both confused and curious.

"Out with it." Natsu said finally, after the girls were a big distance from them.

"Okay…" Gray looked up at Natsu before looking down at the ground. The brown earth of the path was mixing with the broken bits of grass on the boarder of it. And anything was better than having to say the words that he had to tell Natsu.

"What is it?" the fire mage placed a hand on Gray's shoulder and the physical contact snapped him from his distraction. "Gray, you're acting too weird. What's going on? It's not like you to be this… indecisive…?"

"Well, if you knew what I have to tell you, you might also be indecisive." Gray said in an anxious voice.

"I probably wouldn't. I'm not a weak-ass ice mage." Natsu said in a bid at levity.

"No, you wouldn't… fine!" Gray looked up and locked his gaze with Natsu's. "Remember when I said that the royal family had escaped?"

"Yeah." Natsu tilted his head to the side, no seeing where the other was going.

"It was the _whole_ royal family. King, queen and son."

"They had a kid?" Natsu mused. "Okay, but I don't see what's the problem with that…"

"The thing is, _you are_ that kid."

The hand that Natsu had on his shoulder was lifted as if it'd been stung and Natsu's expression closed off, a deep frown carving itself on the fire mage's face.

"What are you talking about? What do you _mean_?"

"I mean that you're the prince of Draconia."

Natsu's expression went strangely blank, he just stared at the ice mage. And then, almost as if a switch had been clicked, he punched Gray.

"You fucker!"


End file.
